Gardening in the United Kingdom: climate, frost dates and crops by region

We worked out the season of 40 cities of the United Kingdom from ten years of weather: the frost-free season lasts from 194 days in Stirling to 296 days in Brighton. The last spring frost comes first in Brighton (around 8 February) and last in Inverness (around 1 May).

Climate zones of the United Kingdom

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

Zone	Cities	Frost-free days	Last spring frost	First autumn frost
270 frost-free days or more	Swansea, Brighton, Portsmouth, Plymouth	272 – 296	8 February – 4 March	1 December
210–269 frost-free days	Aberdeen, Derry, Newcastle upon Tyne, Belfast, York, Leeds, Bradford, Hull, Liverpool, Sheffield, Lincoln (United Kingdom), Wrexham, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Norwich, Coventry, Cambridge, Worcester, Ipswich, Oxford, London, Cardiff, Bristol, Southampton, Exeter	213 – 259	15 March – 20 April	14 November – 29 November
150–209 frost-free days	Inverness, Dundee, Perth (United Kingdom), Stirling, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Carlisle, Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham	194 – 207	22 April – 1 May	9 November – 19 November

How the regions of the United Kingdom differ

Splitting the cities in two — north (Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and 17 more) and south (Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, Derby and 17 more): the last spring frost comes about 13 days later in the north; the frost-free season is about 217 days in the north and 234 days in the south; the warmest month averages 19.1 °C by day in the north and 21.3 °C in the south.

The gap between the warmest month’s days and the coldest month’s nights is widest in London (21 °C) and smallest in Plymouth (10.9 °C): the smaller it is, the milder both winter and summer. Swansea is the wettest of these cities with 1,683 mm a year, Ipswich the driest with 674 mm. The hottest summer days are in London (22.9 °C on average in the warmest month), the coolest in Stirling (17.6 °C). In none of these cities does a month average below 0 °C at night.

Which crops suit which part of the United Kingdom

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.

Crop	Planting out or sowing	Season long enough	Tight or too short
Tomato	21 May (Portsmouth) – 11 August (Swansea)	all 40	—
Cucumber	12 June (London) – 16 September (Swansea)	all 40	—
Bell Pepper, Eggplant	12 June (London) – 11 August (Swansea)	all 40	—
Zucchini	12 June (London) – 14 September (Swansea)	all 40	—
Pumpkin	12 June (London) – 29 August (Dundee)	all 40	—
Watermelon	12 June (London) – 22 August (Swansea)	all 40	—
Peas	18 January (Brighton) – 18 September (Swansea)	all 40	—
Garlic, Tulip, Daffodil, Crocus, Hyacinth	Autumn planting: 10 October (Stirling) – end of December (Inverness)	—	—

Cities of the United Kingdom: weather in numbers

City	Frost-free days	Warmest month, day	Coldest month, night	Rain a year	Driest month	Places to buy
Inverness	196	July, 18.5 °C	January, 1.1 °C	983 mm	April	9
Aberdeen	224	July, 17.8 °C	January, 1.4 °C	883 mm	April	12
Dundee	198	July, 18.3 °C	January, 0.7 °C	940 mm	April	11
Perth (United Kingdom)	197	July, 18.5 °C	January, 0.2 °C	1,100 mm	April	14
Stirling	194	July, 17.6 °C	January, 0.7 °C	1,358 mm	April	10
Edinburgh	195	July, 19.1 °C	January, 1.8 °C	967 mm	April	26
Glasgow	197	July, 18.2 °C	January, 1.7 °C	1,199 mm	April	23
Derry	243	July, 17.7 °C	January, 3.2 °C	1,134 mm	April	2
Newcastle upon Tyne	226	July, 19 °C	January, 2.3 °C	813 mm	April	26
Carlisle	203	July, 19.1 °C	January, 1.5 °C	1,323 mm	April	11
Belfast	215	July, 18.3 °C	January, 2.3 °C	1,047 mm	April	21
York	216	July, 20.8 °C	January, 1.2 °C	815 mm	April	26
Leeds	219	July, 20.6 °C	January, 1.9 °C	868 mm	April	42
Bradford	217	July, 19.9 °C	January, 1.6 °C	924 mm	April	45
Hull	241	July, 20.8 °C	January, 1.9 °C	763 mm	April	14
Manchester	206	July, 19.8 °C	January, 1.5 °C	1,263 mm	April	39
Liverpool	239	July, 19.3 °C	January, 2.8 °C	1,187 mm	May	32
Sheffield	221	July, 19.8 °C	January, 1.7 °C	947 mm	April	36
Lincoln (United Kingdom)	232	July, 21.7 °C	January, 1.6 °C	765 mm	April	7
Wrexham	230	July, 20.3 °C	January, 2.3 °C	960 mm	April	16
Stoke-on-Trent	202	July, 20.2 °C	January, 1.2 °C	935 mm	April	23
Nottingham	230	July, 21.4 °C	January, 1.6 °C	784 mm	April	40
Derby	224	July, 20.9 °C	January, 1.4 °C	845 mm	April	35
Leicester	213	July, 21.4 °C	January, 1.6 °C	754 mm	April	29
Norwich	242	August, 21.6 °C	January, 1.7 °C	720 mm	April	32
Birmingham	207	July, 20.9 °C	January, 1.3 °C	847 mm	April	39
Coventry	219	July, 21.4 °C	January, 1.4 °C	783 mm	April	16
Cambridge	235	July, 22.5 °C	January, 1.7 °C	687 mm	April	21
Worcester	221	July, 21.6 °C	January, 1.7 °C	800 mm	April	24
Ipswich	259	August, 21.6 °C	January, 2.3 °C	674 mm	April	12
Oxford	234	July, 22.2 °C	January, 1.5 °C	773 mm	April	24
Swansea	276	July, 19.7 °C	January, 3.7 °C	1,683 mm	April	4
London	233	July, 22.9 °C	January, 1.9 °C	729 mm	April	55
Cardiff	242	July, 20.7 °C	January, 2.5 °C	1,248 mm	June	19
Bristol	225	July, 21.2 °C	January, 2.1 °C	921 mm	April	44
Southampton	233	July, 22.3 °C	January, 1.9 °C	852 mm	April	41
Brighton	296	August, 19.2 °C	January, 5.6 °C	923 mm	April	28
Portsmouth	272	July, 20.7 °C	January, 3.4 °C	883 mm	April	32
Exeter	238	July, 21.2 °C	January, 2.3 °C	980 mm	July	26
Plymouth	275	August, 18 °C	January, 7.1 °C	1,103 mm	July	16

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

United Kingdom by region: frost dates and planting windows

Each region’s page sets its cities side by side: frost dates, planting windows and weather by month.