When to plant cucumbers in Leicester: 21 June – 4 September

In Leicester, cucumber: sow for seedlings from 3 May to 7 August; plant into a greenhouse from 31 May to 4 September; plant out into open ground from 21 June to 4 September. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Linnaeous Nursery (plant nursery, 3 km) and Annes Plants (garden centre, 7 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Cucumber in Leicester: soil, season and weather

In Leicester the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 20 April, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the cucumber card — only around 21 June, 62 days later.

Last spring frost	20 April
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	21 June, 62 days after the last frost
Into an unheated greenhouse	31 May – 4 September; May outside: 7.6 °C at night, 16.5 °C by day; card 18–25 °C
First autumn frost	19 November, 151 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	34
First harvest, if planted in this window	25 July – 8 October
Days left for picking	117
Daylight	16:11 on 24 May, 16:52 on 21 June
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 2 days; the driest month, August, has 11 rainy days

The same dates in Leicester hold for Bell Pepper, Eggplant, Zucchini, Pumpkin and Watermelon.

Cucumber in Leicester: care after planting

Planted on 21 June: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

Feeding, by the card’s schedule from that day:

28 June — feed: nitrogen

Pests and diseases of cucumber to watch for:

Dates count from the first planting day of the window above; a later planting moves them by as many days.

Weather in Leicester during the cucumber season

No month of the season averages above the cucumber card's 18–35 °C by day; the warmest, July, averages 21.4 °C. Months that stay below 18 °C even by day on average: October (14.3 °C) and November (9.8 °C). Nights average below 18 °C in every month of the season, from 4.5 °C to 13 °C.

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
June	19.6	11	65	11	16:50
July	21.4	13	72	13	16:24
August	21.1	12.7	58	11	14:46
September	18.5	10.6	69	12	12:44
October	14.3	8.2	76	13	10:42
November	9.8	4.5	70	12	8:46

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Cucumber in nearby cities

Around Leicester, Nottingham is 1 day earlier and Lincoln (United Kingdom) 4 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Nottingham	34 km	20 June – 8 September	1 day earlier
Coventry	36 km	21 June – 2 September	same day
Derby	39 km	22 June – 7 September	1 day later
Birmingham	54 km	20 June – 4 September	1 day earlier
Lincoln (United Kingdom)	77 km	25 June – 4 September	4 days later
Stoke-on-Trent	83 km	20 June – 31 August	1 day earlier

Where to buy cucumber plants and seeds near Leicester

Buy plants ready to set out from 21 June to 4 September (from 31 May to 4 September for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 3 May to 7 August. Within 15 km of Leicester OpenStreetMap lists 14 garden centres, 5 plant nurseries, 4 markets and 6 farm shops (collected 20 October 2026).

Annes Plants — garden centre
Tue–Sat 10:00–17:00; Sun 10:30–16:30 · 7 km
Chamneys Garden Centre — garden centre
Lutterworth Road, LE8 4DP Blaby · 9 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

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.

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