When to plant pumpkins in Lucerne: 28 June – 6 August

In Lucerne, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 26 April to 25 June; plant into a greenhouse from 7 June to 6 August; plant out into open ground from 28 June to 6 August. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Hofladen Buholzer (farm shop, 3 km) and Hoflade Hofrüti (farm shop, 3 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Pumpkin in Lucerne: soil, season and weather

In Lucerne the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 2 May, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 28 June, 57 days later. 114 days separate planting out (28 June) from the first autumn frost (20 October); the card's 75 days to the first harvest leave 39 for picking, so a start 5 weeks late would still fit.

Last spring frost	2 May
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	28 June, 57 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	20 October, 114 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	11 September – 20 October
Days left for picking	39
Daylight	15:08 on 17 May, 15:53 on 28 June
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, October, has 13 rainy days

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

Pumpkin in Lucerne: care after planting

Planted on 28 June: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

19 July — 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 Lucerne during the pumpkin season

About 878 mm of rain falls in the season; October is the driest month (134 mm) and July the wettest (215 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
June	18.2	9.7	177	19	15:53
July	19.3	11.5	215	20	15:33
August	19.4	11.4	192	16	14:16
September	15.4	7.8	160	16	12:37
October	12.1	4.1	134	13	10:57

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

All the nearest cities on our list plant pumpkin earlier than Lucerne; the closest date is in Bern, 7 days earlier.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Zurich	41 km	11 June – 22 July	17 days earlier
Bern	66 km	21 June – 9 July	7 days earlier
Basel	79 km	5 June – 26 July	23 days earlier
St. Gallen	90 km	15 June – 24 July	13 days earlier
Fribourg	92 km	21 June – 12 July	7 days earlier
Locarno	105 km	30 May – 9 July	29 days earlier

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Lucerne

Buy plants ready to set out from 28 June to 6 August (from 7 June to 6 August for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 26 April to 25 June. Within 15 km of Lucerne OpenStreetMap lists 7 garden centres, 1 farm-supply shop, 1 plant nursery, 16 markets and 37 farm shops (collected 27 October 2026).

Hofladen Trottenmatt — farm shop
Trottenmatt, 6535 Weggis · Mon–Fri 08:00–18:00; Sat–Sun 08:00–17:00 · 9 km · goessi-trottenmatt.jimdofree.com
Gössi Hofmärt — farm shop
Kantonsstrasse 17c, 6353 Weggis · 9 km · xn--gssi-hofmrt-t8a9t.ch
Hofladen Buholzer — farm shop
Gabeldingen 1, 6010 Kriens · Mon–Sat 08:00–21:00; Sun 08:00–18:00; Jan closed · 3 km
Hoflade Hofrüti — farm shop
Kastanienbaumstrasse 49, 6048 Horw · Mon–Sun 08:00–20:00 · 3 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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