When to plant pumpkins in Plymouth: 17 July – 6 August

In Plymouth, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 15 May to 25 June; plant into a greenhouse from 26 June to 6 August; plant out into open ground from 17 July to 6 August. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Ben’s Farm Shop (farm shop, 10 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Pumpkin in Plymouth: soil, season and weather

In Plymouth the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 1 March, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 17 July, 138 days later.

Last spring frost	1 March
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	17 July, 138 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	1 December, 137 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	30 September – 20 October
Days left for picking	62
Daylight	16:14 on 5 June, 15:57 on 17 July
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, July, has 9 rainy days

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

Pumpkin in Plymouth: care after planting

Planted on 17 July: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

7 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 Plymouth during the pumpkin season

About 630 mm of rain falls in the season; July is the driest month (54 mm) and November the wettest (141 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
July	17.9	15.3	54	9	16:01
August	18	15.7	64	10	14:33
September	17.1	14.5	93	13	12:41
October	15.1	12.7	140	16	10:49
November	12.6	10	141	17	9:02
December	11.2	8.8	138	18	8:03

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

All the nearest cities on our list plant pumpkin earlier than Plymouth; the closest date is in Cardiff, 23 days earlier.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Exeter	58 km	23 June – 2 August	24 days earlier
Swansea	140 km	21 June – 6 August	26 days earlier
Cardiff	141 km	24 June – 28 July	23 days earlier
Bristol	162 km	19 June – 28 July	28 days earlier
Southampton	202 km	17 June – 29 July	30 days earlier
Portsmouth	221 km	16 June – 6 August	31 days earlier

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Plymouth

Buy plants ready to set out from 17 July to 6 August (from 26 June to 6 August for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 15 May to 25 June. Within 15 km of Plymouth OpenStreetMap lists 8 garden centres, 1 farm-supply shop, 5 markets and 2 farm shops (collected 20 October 2026).

Ben’s Farm Shop — farm shop
Mon–Sat 09:00–18:00; Sat 10:00–17:00 · 10 km · bensfarmshop.co.uk
Tamar View Nurseries & Garden Centre — garden centre
10 km · tamarviewnurseries.co.uk
Woodvale Nurseries — garden centre
6 km
Chaplins — garden centre
7 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