Last and first frost dates in Oxford

When is the last frost in Oxford?

The last frost in Oxford usually comes around 3 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 13 March, while corn waits until 7 May. The first autumn frost follows around 23 November, about 234 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 Oxford

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 14 days after the last spring frost and 15 °C 53 days after it.

Frost dates near Oxford

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

Seeds, seedlings and markets in Oxford

Within 15 km of Oxford OpenStreetMap lists 10 garden centres, 6 markets and 8 farm shops (collected 20 October 2026). The nearest garden centre to the city centre is Oxford Garden Centre, 2 km away.

• Oxford Garden Centre — garden centre
  South Hinksey, OX1 5AR Oxford · Mon–Sat 09:00–17:00; Sun 10:30–16:30 · 2 km · gardencentreoxford.com
• Gloucester Green Market — market
  Gloucester Green, Oxford · Wed 09:00–16:00, Thu–Fri 10:00–16:00; Sat 09:00–17:00 · 1 km
• Saturday Farm Market — farm shop
  Sat 10:00–13:00 · 3 km · oxfordcityfarm.org.uk
• Garden Centre by Homebase (inside The Range) — garden centre
  Mon–Sat 09:00–20:00; Sun 10:30–16:30 · 4 km
• South Oxford Farmers and Community Market — market
  Lake Street, Oxford · Sun 09:30–12:00 · 1 km · southoxfordfarmersmarket.org.uk
• Rectory Farm Shop — farm shop
  Rectory Farm, OX33 1HF Stanton St John · 7 km · rectoryfarmpyo.co.uk

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

Places: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

Weather in Oxford by month

Average weather in Oxford over 2016–2025: the warmest month is July. Months that average 20 °C or more by day: June (20.4 °C), July (22.2 °C) and August (21.8 °C). No month averages below 0 °C at night; the coldest nights, in January, average 1.5 °C. About 773 mm of rain falls in a year, on 139 days; October is the wettest month (83 mm) and April the driest (45 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).