Gardening in Pakistan: climate, frost dates and crops by region

Climate zones of Pakistan

By the days between the last spring frost and the first autumn frost.

How the regions of Pakistan differ

Splitting the cities in two — north (Peshawar, Murree, Islamabad and 3 more) and south (Multan, Quetta, Bahawalpur and 3 more): the warmest month averages 39 °C by day in the north and 40.8 °C in the south; the north gets about 697 mm of rain a year and the south about 237 mm.

The gap between the warmest month’s days and the coldest month’s nights is widest in Quetta (34.9 °C) and smallest in Karachi (19.4 °C): the smaller it is, the milder both winter and summer. Islamabad is the wettest of these cities with 1,145 mm a year, Sukkur the driest with 208 mm. The hottest summer days are in Sukkur (43.1 °C on average in the warmest month), the coolest in Islamabad (32.8 °C). In none of these cities does a month average below 0 °C at night.

Which crops suit which part of Pakistan

Season long enough: the days from planting to the first autumn frost cover the days to the first harvest on the plant card. 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.

Cities without a spring frost: months that suit each crop

Months whose average day is not above the highest temperature on the plant card and whose average night is not below its lowest.

Cities of Pakistan: weather in numbers

ERA5 2016–2025 via Open-Meteo, 25 km grid cell of each city; dates by the Greenly calendar and the plant cards.

More about Pakistan

• Pakistan: frost dates by city
• Where to buy seeds and plants
• When to plant tomatoes in Pakistan
• When to plant cucumbers in Pakistan
• When to plant peas in Pakistan
• Gardening by country