Last and first frost dates in Essen

When is the last frost in Essen?

The last frost in Essen usually comes around 6 April: 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 16 March, while corn waits until 17 April. The first autumn frost follows around 21 November, about 229 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 Essen

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 8 days before the last spring frost and 15 °C 35 days after it.

Frost dates near Essen

Of the nearest cities on our list, the last spring frost ends earliest in Düsseldorf (4 April) and latest in Hagen (26 April).

Seeds, seedlings and markets in Essen

Within 15 km of Essen OpenStreetMap lists 49 garden centres, 1 farm-supply shop, 5 plant nurseries, 43 markets and 27 farm shops (collected 28 October 2026). The nearest garden centre to the city centre is Friedhofsgärtnerei Bylsma GmbH, 4 km away.

• Friedhofsgärtnerei Bylsma GmbH — garden centre
  Dachstraße 14a, 45355 Essen · 4 km · bylsma-gmbh.de
• Raiffeisenmarkt — farm supply
  Hansastraße 88, 44866 Bochum · Mon–Fri 09:00–19:00; Sat 09:00–14:00 · 10 km · raiffeisenruhrgebiet.de
• Innenstadt (Marktkirche / Flachsmarkt) — market
  Tue 09:00–18:00; Fri 09:00–18:00 · 0 km · wochenmaerkte-essen.de
• Hofanlage Köllman — farm shop
  Rodenseelstraße 181, 45307 Essen · Mon–Fri 08:30–18:00; Sat 08:00–14:00 || "Spargelzeit Sun 10:00–12:00" · 7 km · bauerridder.de
• Wolfgang's Staudengarten — garden centre
  Alexanderstraße 21, 45472 Mülheim an der Ruhr · Mon–Fri 08:00–18:30; Sat 08:00–16:00; Sun 10:00–13:00 · 6 km
• Marktplatz Margarethenhöhe — market
  Kleiner Markt, 45149 Essen · Wed 10:00–13:00; Sat 08:00–13:00 · 4 km

• Where to buy seeds and seedlings in Essen
• Selling your own harvest in Germany

Places: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

Weather in Essen by month

Average weather in Essen over 2016–2025: the warmest month is August. Months that average 20 °C or more by day: June–September (20.4–24.1 °C). No month averages below 0 °C at night; the coldest nights, in January, average 1 °C. About 909 mm of rain falls in a year, on 157 days; January is the wettest month (95 mm) and April the driest (63 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).