When to plant pumpkins in Rochester: 2 June – 18 July

In Rochester, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 31 March to 6 June; plant into a greenhouse from 12 May to 18 July; plant out into open ground from 2 June to 18 July. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Hydro Garden Center (garden centre, 3 km) and Clover Nursery and Garden Center (garden centre, 7 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Pumpkin in Rochester: soil, season and weather

In Rochester the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 20 April, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 2 June, 43 days later.

Last spring frost	20 April
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	2 June, 43 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	12 November, 163 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	16 August – 1 October
Days left for picking	88
Daylight	13:40 on 21 April, 15:10 on 2 June
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, September, has 10 rainy days

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

Pumpkin in Rochester: care after planting

Planted on 2 June: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

23 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 Rochester during the pumpkin season

About 558 mm of rain falls in the season; September is the driest month (76 mm) and October the wettest (123 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
June	24	15.6	79	11	15:22
July	27.2	19.2	98	12	15:05
August	26.2	18.6	92	13	13:59
September	23.2	15.3	76	10	12:33
October	16.9	9.8	123	14	11:06
November	9.4	2.9	90	14	9:44

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

All the nearest cities on our list plant pumpkin earlier than Rochester; the closest date is in Hamilton, 1 day earlier.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Buffalo	106 km	29 May – 16 July	4 days earlier
Syracuse (United States)	121 km	31 May – 12 July	2 days earlier
Ithaca	121 km	31 May – 14 July	2 days earlier
Toronto	153 km	29 May – 5 July	4 days earlier
Hamilton	181 km	1 June – 13 July	1 day earlier
Erie	231 km	30 May – 25 July	3 days earlier

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Rochester

Buy plants ready to set out from 2 June to 18 July (from 12 May to 18 July for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 31 March to 6 June. Within 15 km of Rochester OpenStreetMap lists 8 garden centres, 7 markets and 2 farm shops (collected 20 October 2026).

Prop Me Up — garden centre
North Main Street 112, 14450 Fairport · 15 km · prop-me-up.com
Clover Nursery and Garden Center — garden centre
North Landing Road 485, 14625 Rochester · 7 km
Aman's Farm & Market — garden centre
East Ridge Road 2458, 14622 Rochester · 8 km
Hydro Garden Center — garden centre
Lyell Avenue 1069, 14606 Rochester · 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.

Questions