When to plant pumpkins in Besançon: 3 June – 24 July

In Besançon, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 1 April to 12 June; plant into a greenhouse from 13 May to 24 July; plant out into open ground from 3 June to 24 July.

Pumpkin in Besançon: soil, season and weather

In Besançon the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 12 April, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 3 June, 52 days later.

Last spring frost	12 April
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	3 June, 52 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	18 November, 168 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	17 August – 7 October
Days left for picking	93
Daylight	13:58 on 22 April, 15:42 on 3 June
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, August, has 11 rainy days

The same dates in Besançon hold for Cucumber, Bell Pepper, Eggplant, Zucchini and Watermelon.

Pumpkin in Besançon: care after planting

Planted on 3 June: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

24 June — feed: nitrogen

Pests and diseases of pumpkin 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 Besançon during the pumpkin season

About 601 mm of rain falls in the season; August is the driest month (78 mm) and October the wettest (118 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
June	24	14.3	113	14	15:54
July	25.6	15.5	87	12	15:34
August	25.7	15.6	78	11	14:17
September	21.5	12.2	87	12	12:37
October	16.7	8.7	118	13	10:56
November	10.2	3.7	118	15	9:22

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

Around Besançon, Dijon is 3 days earlier and Fribourg 18 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Dijon	74 km	31 May – 25 July	3 days earlier
Neuchâtel	75 km	6 June – 3 August	3 days later
Lausanne	93 km	19 June – 26 July	16 days later
Fribourg	99 km	21 June – 12 July	18 days later
Mulhouse	113 km	1 June – 23 July	2 days earlier
Bern	113 km	21 June – 9 July	18 days later

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Besançon

Buy plants ready to set out from 3 June to 24 July (from 13 May to 24 July for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 1 April to 12 June. Within 15 km of Besançon OpenStreetMap lists 9 garden centres, 1 farm-supply shop, 1 plant nursery, 7 markets and 11 farm shops (collected 27 October 2026).

Les Jardins de Busy — garden centre
10 km
Gamm Vert — garden centre
13 km
Orangerie Municipale — plant nursery
3 km
Masnada — farm supply
7 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.

Questions