When to plant pumpkins in Sligo: 30 June – 27 July

In Sligo, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 28 April to 15 June; plant into a greenhouse from 9 June to 27 July; plant out into open ground from 30 June to 27 July. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Horkans (garden centre, 1 km) and Homeland Plus (farm shop, 2 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Pumpkin in Sligo: soil, season and weather

In Sligo the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 8 April, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 30 June, 83 days later.

Last spring frost	8 April
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	30 June, 83 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	21 November, 144 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	13 September – 10 October
Days left for picking	69
Daylight	16:13 on 19 May, 17:08 on 30 June
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, November, has 19 rainy days

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

Pumpkin in Sligo: care after planting

Planted on 30 June: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

21 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 Sligo during the pumpkin season

About 786 mm of rain falls in the season; November is the driest month (115 mm) and August the wettest (157 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
June	17	10.2	125	20	17:10
July	17.7	11.6	128	21	16:42
August	17.9	11.6	157	22	14:57
September	15.9	9.9	123	19	12:47
October	12.9	8	138	19	10:37
November	9.6	5	115	19	8:33

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

All the nearest cities on our list plant pumpkin later than Sligo; the closest date is in Letterkenny, 7 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Letterkenny	91 km	7 July – 3 August	7 days later
Athlone	101 km	13 July – 1 August	13 days later
Derry	110 km	13 July – 27 July	13 days later
Galway	118 km	13 July – 3 August	13 days later
Dundalk	138 km	17 July – 26 July	17 days later
Belfast	168 km	7 July – 25 July	7 days later

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Sligo

Buy plants ready to set out from 30 June to 27 July (from 9 June to 27 July for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 28 April to 15 June. Within 15 km of Sligo OpenStreetMap lists 2 garden centres and 1 farm shop (collected 20 October 2026).

Horkans — garden centre
Mon–Sun 10:00–18:00 · 1 km
Homebase — garden centre
Carraroe Retail Park, Sligo · 2 km
Homeland Plus — farm shop
Deep Water Quay, F91 HR53 Sligo · 2 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