When to plant pumpkins in Sapporo: 17 July – 3 August

In Sapporo, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 15 May to 22 June; plant into a greenhouse from 26 June to 3 August; plant out into open ground from 17 July to 3 August.

Pumpkin in Sapporo: soil, season and weather

In Sapporo the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 9 May, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 17 July, 69 days later. Planting out on 17 July leaves 92 days to the first autumn frost on 17 October, only 17 more than the card's 75 days to the first harvest; an unheated greenhouse, three weeks earlier, would add 21.

Last spring frost	9 May
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	17 July, 69 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	17 October, 92 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	30 September – 17 October
Days left for picking	17
Daylight	15:13 on 5 June, 15:01 on 17 July
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, October, has 14 rainy days

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

Pumpkin in Sapporo: 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 Sapporo during the pumpkin season

About 610 mm of rain falls in the season; October is the driest month (120 mm) and August the wettest (200 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
July	22.3	14.8	151	16	15:04
August	22.1	15.2	200	17	13:59
September	18.1	10.6	139	13	12:33
October	10.9	3.3	120	14	11:06

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

All the nearest cities on our list plant pumpkin earlier than Sapporo; the closest date is in Vladivostok, 11 days earlier.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Sendai	534 km	7 June – 29 July	40 days earlier
Niigata	604 km	20 May – 25 August	58 days earlier
Vladivostok	768 km	6 July – 11 July	11 days earlier
Khabarovsk	774 km	15 June – 21 June	32 days earlier
Tokyo	832 km	28 April – 19 August	80 days earlier
Nagoya	956 km	6 May – 15 August	72 days earlier

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Sapporo

Buy plants ready to set out from 17 July to 3 August (from 26 June to 3 August for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 15 May to 22 June. Within 15 km of Sapporo OpenStreetMap lists 2 garden centres, 1 farm-supply shop, 2 markets and 3 farm shops (collected 28 October 2026).

雪印種苗園芸センター — farm supply
11 km
Sapporo Central Wholesale Market — market
3 km · sapporo-market.gr.jp
八紘学園農産物直売所 — farm shop
6 km · hakkougakuentyokub.wixsite.com
はるきちオーガニックファーム直売所 — farm shop
13 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