When to plant pumpkins in Essen: 3 June – 27 July

In Essen, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 1 April to 15 June; plant into a greenhouse from 13 May to 27 July; plant out into open ground from 3 June to 27 July.

Pumpkin in Essen: soil, season and weather

In Essen the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 6 April, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 3 June, 58 days later.

Last spring frost	6 April
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	3 June, 58 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	21 November, 171 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	17 August – 10 October
Days left for picking	96
Daylight	14:16 on 22 April, 16:21 on 3 June
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, August, has 13 rainy days

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

Pumpkin in Essen: 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 Essen during the pumpkin season

About 447 mm of rain falls in the season; August is the driest month (66 mm) and October the wettest (87 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
June	23.2	13.5	72	11	16:36
July	23.7	14.4	73	13	16:12
August	24.1	14.7	66	13	14:39
September	20.4	11.8	80	11	12:42
October	15.5	9.1	87	14	10:45
November	9.7	4.3	69	13	8:54

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

Around Essen, Münster is 2 days earlier and Dortmund 2 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Bochum	15 km	3 June – 26 July	same day
Duisburg	18 km	3 June – 28 July	same day
Düsseldorf	30 km	3 June – 27 July	same day
Dortmund	32 km	5 June – 22 July	2 days later
Cologne	58 km	3 June – 26 July	same day
Münster	70 km	1 June – 27 July	2 days earlier

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Essen

Buy plants ready to set out from 3 June to 27 July (from 13 May to 27 July for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 1 April to 15 June. Within 15 km of Essen OpenStreetMap lists 49 garden centres, 1 farm-supply shop, 5 plant nurseries, 43 markets and 27 farm shops (collected 28 October 2026).

Marktplatz Margarethenhöhe — market
Kleiner Markt, 45149 Essen · Wed 10:00–13:00; Sat 08:00–13:00 · 4 km
Krayer Markt — market
Wed, Fri 08:00–13:00 · 5 km · wochenmaerkte-essen.de
Werdener Markt — market
Sat 08:00–13:00 · 8 km · wochenmaerkte-essen.de
Beerdigungsininstitut Mombour GmbH & Co. KG — market
Zeppelinstraße 114, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr · 9 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