Last and first frost dates in Leicester

When is the last frost in Leicester?

The last frost in Leicester usually comes around 20 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 30 March, while corn waits until 7 May. The first autumn frost follows around 19 November, about 213 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 Leicester

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 6 days before the last spring frost and 15 °C 37 days after it.

Frost dates near Leicester

Of the nearest cities on our list, the last spring frost ends earliest in Lincoln (United Kingdom) (1 April) and latest in Birmingham (26 April).

Seeds, seedlings and markets in Leicester

Within 15 km of Leicester OpenStreetMap lists 14 garden centres, 5 plant nurseries, 4 markets and 6 farm shops (collected 20 October 2026). The nearest garden centre to the city centre is Palmers Garden Centre, 7 km away.

• Palmers Garden Centre — garden centre
  St Johns 79, LE19 2BS Leicester · 7 km
• Linnaeous Nursery — plant nursery
  Cordelia Close, LE5 0LE Leicester · 3 km
• Leicester Market Food Hall — market
  Market Place 33, LE1 5GG Leicester · Mon–Sat 09:00–17:00; Sun closed · 1 km
• Woodcock Farm Shop — farm shop
  Loughborough Road 903, LE7 7NH · 7 km
• Annes Plants — garden centre
  Tue–Sat 10:00–17:00; Sun 10:30–16:30 · 7 km
• New Lubbesthorpe Village Market — market
  Tay Road, LE19 4BF Leicester · Sat[2] 09:00–14:00 · 7 km

• Where to buy seeds and seedlings in Leicester
• Selling your own harvest in the United Kingdom

Places: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

Weather in Leicester by month

Average weather in Leicester over 2016–2025: the warmest month is July. Months that average 20 °C or more by day: July (21.4 °C) and August (21.1 °C). No month averages below 0 °C at night; the coldest nights, in January, average 1.6 °C. About 754 mm of rain falls in a year, on 143 days; October is the wettest month (76 mm) and April the driest (42 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).