When to plant pumpkins in Brighton: 20 July – 6 August

In Brighton, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 18 May to 25 June; plant into a greenhouse from 29 June to 6 August; plant out into open ground from 20 July to 6 August. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Park Farm Shop (farm shop, 6 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Pumpkin in Brighton: soil, season and weather

In Brighton the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 8 February, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 20 July, 162 days later. 134 days separate planting out (20 July) from the first autumn frost (1 December); the card's 75 days to the first harvest leave 59 for picking, so a start 8 weeks late would still fit.

Last spring frost	8 February
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	20 July, 162 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	1 December, 134 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	3 October – 20 October
Days left for picking	59
Daylight	16:22 on 8 June, 15:54 on 20 July
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, July, has 10 rainy days

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

Pumpkin in Brighton: care after planting

Planted on 20 July: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

10 August — 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 Brighton during the pumpkin season

About 561 mm of rain falls in the season; July is the driest month (53 mm) and October the wettest (131 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
July	18.6	16	53	10	16:06
August	19.2	16.5	63	10	14:36
September	18.2	15.1	87	11	12:42
October	15.8	12.9	131	15	10:47
November	12.3	9.3	121	15	8:59
December	10.3	7.6	106	16	7:59

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

All the nearest cities on our list plant pumpkin earlier than Brighton; the closest date is in Oxford, 27 days earlier.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Portsmouth	67 km	16 June – 6 August	34 days earlier
London	76 km	12 June – 29 July	38 days earlier
Southampton	89 km	17 June – 29 July	33 days earlier
Oxford	129 km	23 June – 29 July	27 days earlier
Le Havre	150 km	11 June – 17 August	39 days earlier
Cambridge	153 km	17 June – 30 July	33 days earlier

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Brighton

Buy plants ready to set out from 20 July to 6 August (from 29 June to 6 August for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 18 May to 25 June. Within 15 km of Brighton OpenStreetMap lists 18 garden centres, 6 plant nurseries, 5 markets and 2 farm shops (collected 20 October 2026).

Park Farm Shop — farm shop
Park Street, BN1 9PG Brighton · 6 km
South Downs Nurseries — garden centre
10 km · tatesofsussex.co.uk
Shoulders of shoreham Precision Engineers — garden centre
6 km
Lewes Garden Centre — garden centre
10 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