When to plant pumpkins in Derry: 13 July – 27 July

In Derry, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 11 May to 15 June; plant into a greenhouse from 22 June to 27 July; plant out into open ground from 13 July to 27 July. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Culmore Farm Shop (farm shop, 7 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Pumpkin in Derry: soil, season and weather

In Derry the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 23 March, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 13 July, 112 days later. 131 days separate planting out (13 July) from the first autumn frost (21 November); the card's 75 days to the first harvest leave 56 for picking, so a start 8 weeks late would still fit.

Last spring frost	23 March
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	13 July, 112 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	21 November, 131 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	26 September – 10 October
Days left for picking	56
Daylight	16:58 on 1 June, 16:56 on 13 July
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, November, has 17 rainy days

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

Pumpkin in Derry: care after planting

Planted on 13 July: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

3 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 Derry during the pumpkin season

About 514 mm of rain falls in the season; November is the driest month (90 mm) and August the wettest (113 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
July	17.7	11.7	104	19	16:51
August	17.7	11.9	113	20	15:02
September	15.9	10.3	101	18	12:48
October	12.9	8.4	106	17	10:35
November	9.7	5.4	90	17	8:26

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

Around Derry, Sligo is 13 days earlier and Dundalk 4 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Letterkenny	26 km	7 July – 3 August	6 days earlier
Belfast	100 km	7 July – 25 July	6 days earlier
Sligo	110 km	30 June – 27 July	13 days earlier
Dundalk	126 km	17 July – 26 July	4 days later
Athlone	180 km	13 July – 1 August	same day
Dublin	196 km	16 July – 30 July	3 days later

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Derry

Buy plants ready to set out from 13 July to 27 July (from 22 June to 27 July for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 11 May to 15 June. Within 15 km of Derry OpenStreetMap lists 1 garden centre and 1 farm shop (collected 28 October 2026).

Culmore Farm Shop — farm shop
Culmore Road, Culmore · 7 km
Altnagelvin Garden Centre — garden centre
2 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