Last and first frost dates in Ballarat

When is the last frost in Ballarat?

The last frost in Ballarat usually comes around 20 August: that is the median of 2016–2025, so in about half of those years the last night at or below 0 °C came later. Hardy crops start before it and frost-tender ones only after it: in the table below arugula can go into open ground from 30 July, while corn waits until 17 October. The first autumn frost follows around 19 June, about 303 days later: harvest or cover frost-tender crops before then.

When to sow and plant

Planting out: a week after the last frost once the soil is warm enough for the crop; frost-hardy crops three weeks before it; an unheated greenhouse three weeks earlier. Seedlings are sown so they are ready on that day. Each window starts on the Greenly calendar date and ends on the last day that still leaves the crop’s days to harvest (from its card) before the average first autumn frost, plus six weeks of picking for crops harvested over weeks (tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins, watermelons, beans) — our rule; earlier in the window is safer.

When the soil warms up in Ballarat

The day the top 7 cm of soil first averages each temperature over a week, median of 2016–2025 (ERA5 via Open-Meteo). The soil reaches 10 °C 28 days after the last spring frost and 15 °C 86 days after it.

Frost dates near Ballarat

Of the nearest cities on our list, the last spring frost ends earliest in Geelong (1 July) and latest in Albury (28 August).

Seeds, seedlings and markets in Ballarat

Within 15 km of Ballarat OpenStreetMap lists 3 garden centres, 4 farm-supply shops, 2 plant nurseries and 1 farm shop (collected 20 October 2026). The nearest garden centre to the city centre is Formosa Gardens Nursery, 1 km away.

• Formosa Gardens Nursery — garden centre
  Leith Street 104, 3350 · Mon–Fri 09:00–17:00; Sat–Sun 10:00–16:00 · 1 km · formosagardensnursery.com.au
• Nutrien Ag Solutions Ballarat — farm supply
  Gillies Street South 137, 3350 · 3 km
• Thistleberry Farm — farm shop
  Williams Lane 35, 3352 · Dec–Mar Tue–Sun 08:00–20:00 · 15 km · thistleberry.com.au
• Hewitt & Whitty — farm supply
  Wiltshire Lane 4 · 4 km

• Where to buy seeds and seedlings in Ballarat
• Selling your own harvest in Australia

Places: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

Weather in Ballarat by month

Average weather in Ballarat over 2016–2025: the warmest month is January. Months that average 20 °C or more by day: December–March (22.5–25.9 °C). No month averages below 0 °C at night; the coldest nights, in July, average 4.4 °C. About 728 mm of rain falls in a year, on 123 days; October is the wettest month (88 mm) and February the driest (24 mm).

Average of the daily highs and lows, rain per month and days with at least 1 mm (ERA5 via Open-Meteo, the same grid cell as the frost dates).

Planted in autumn

From a month before the first autumn frost, so the roots grow before winter, to the late-planting limit on each crop’s page (about two weeks before the ground freezes, by ten years of weather).