When to plant pumpkins in Palermo: 28 May – 28 August

In Palermo, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 26 March to 17 July; plant into a greenhouse from 7 May to 28 August; plant out into open ground from 28 May to 28 August.

Pumpkin in Palermo: soil, season and weather

In Palermo the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 23 February, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 28 May, 94 days later.

Last spring frost	23 February
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	28 May, 94 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	23 December, 209 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	11 August – 11 November
Days left for picking	134
Daylight	13:12 on 16 April, 14:33 on 28 May
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, July, has 3 rainy days

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

Pumpkin in Palermo: care after planting

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

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

18 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 Palermo during the pumpkin season

About 471 mm of rain falls in the season; July is the driest month (9 mm) and November the wettest (99 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
May	18.8	9.5	77	10	14:13
June	25.1	15	34	5	14:48
July	28.3	17.6	9	3	14:34
August	27.4	17.3	27	7	13:40
September	23	14.3	63	12	12:28
October	18.7	10.7	80	11	11:15
November	13.5	6.9	99	14	10:08
December	9.9	3.6	82	12	9:32

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

Around Palermo, Catania is 33 days earlier and Potenza 17 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Catania	167 km	from 25 April	33 days earlier
Messina	192 km	from 21 May	7 days earlier
Reggio Calabria	200 km	24 May – 24 August	4 days earlier
Cosenza	283 km	3 June – 5 August	6 days later
Salerno	310 km	7 June – 16 August	10 days later
Potenza	350 km	14 June – 31 July	17 days later

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Palermo

Buy plants ready to set out from 28 May to 28 August (from 7 May to 28 August for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 26 March to 17 July. Within 15 km of Palermo OpenStreetMap lists 11 garden centres, 3 plant nurseries, 12 markets and 1 farm shop (collected 20 October 2026).

Mercato Ittico — market
1 km
Ballaro Market — market
1 km
Mercatino rionale (sabato mattina) — market
4 km
Mercato Ortofrutticolo di Villabate — market
8 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