A growing season is the period of the year when crops and other plants grow successfully. The length of a
growing season
varies from place to place. Most
crops
need a
growing season
of at least 90 days.
In tropical regions, where it is warm year-round, the
growing season
can last the entire year. In some
tropical
places, however, the
growing season
is interrupted by a rainy season. During this time, it is too wet to grow
crops
. Coffee, which grows in
tropical
climates, has this type of varied
growing season
. In Colombia,
coffee
is harvested all year. In Indonesia, heavy rains often interrupt the
coffee
growing season
.
In other
tropical
places, it is sometimes too dry for
crops
to grow. The
tropical
region of northern Africa, called the Sahel, experiences frequent periods of drought. The
Sahel
is a transition zone between the Sahara Desert in the north and the savanna in the south. Due to dramatic weather patterns, the prospect of a successful
harvest
in the
Sahel
is highly uncertain.
In temperate regions, which have warm summers and cold winters, the length of the
growing season
depends mostly on temperature. Some
growing seasons
last as long as eight months. Europe and most of the Americas enjoy long
growing seasons
like this. The farther away a place is from the Equator, the shorter the
growing season
. In regions near the poles, the
growing season
is sometimes less than two months. The U.S. state of Alaska has an average
growing season
of only 105 days.
Elevation, or the height above sea level, also affects the
growing season
. This is because higher
elevations
usually have colder
temperatures
. High in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the U.S. state of California, the
growing season
lasts only 50 days, but along the state's southern coast, the
growing season
lasts 365 days.
There are two ways to determine the
growing season
. In
temperate
regions, the
growing season
is usually calculated by the average number of days between the last frost in spring and the first severe
frost
in autumn. The
growing season
can also be
determined
by the average number of days that the
temperature
rises high enough for a particular
crop
to sprout and grow. This measurement varies depending upon the
crop
. For rice to grow, the
temperature
must be at least 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). Wheat, however, will
sprout
at just 5 degrees Celsius (40 degrees Fahrenheit).
Fast Fact
Alaska's Growing Season
Alaska has a very short growing season, only 105 days, on average. However, the Alaskan growing season does not have dark nightsthe Arctic is tilted toward the sun and plants grow in almost 24 hours of sunlight. In a growing season months shorter than the rest of the country, Alaskas gardeners grow some of the largest produce75-pound cabbages, 100-pound kale and 1,000-pound pumpkins.
