When to plant pumpkins in Valence: 29 May – 27 July

In Valence, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 27 March to 15 June; plant into a greenhouse from 8 May to 27 July; plant out into open ground from 29 May to 27 July. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include La ferme Maubourg (farm shop, 1 km) and Asencio Arboriculteur (farm shop, 5 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Pumpkin in Valence: soil, season and weather

In Valence the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 18 March, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 29 May, 72 days later.

Last spring frost	18 March
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	29 May, 72 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	21 November, 176 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	12 August – 10 October
Days left for picking	101
Daylight	13:34 on 17 April, 15:17 on 29 May
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, August, has 6 rainy days

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

Pumpkin in Valence: care after planting

Planted on 29 May: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

19 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 Valence during the pumpkin season

About 542 mm of rain falls in the season; August is the driest month (45 mm) and October the wettest (111 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
May	20.9	10.6	97	13	14:49
June	26.8	15.8	70	10	15:35
July	29.3	17.5	52	6	15:17
August	29.4	17.4	45	6	14:07
September	24.3	13.6	68	8	12:35
October	19	9.8	111	10	11:02
November	12.1	4.9	99	12	9:35

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

Around Valence, Nîmes is 12 days earlier and Grenoble 30 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Saint-Étienne	70 km	14 June – 23 July	16 days later
Grenoble	70 km	28 June – 30 June	30 days later
Lyon	92 km	27 May – 31 July	2 days earlier
Chambéry	106 km	3 June – 26 July	5 days later
Avignon	109 km	18 May – 7 August	11 days earlier
Nîmes	129 km	17 May – 6 August	12 days earlier

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Valence

Buy plants ready to set out from 29 May to 27 July (from 8 May to 27 July for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 27 March to 15 June. Within 15 km of Valence OpenStreetMap lists 17 garden centres, 3 plant nurseries, 8 markets and 21 farm shops (collected 27 October 2026).

Asencio Arboriculteur — farm shop
Route de Fouillouse 2249, 26500 Bourg-lès-Valence · 5 km
La ferme Maubourg — farm shop
Tue–Sat 09:00–19:00 · 1 km
Les Filles du Potager — farm shop
Mon–Fri 09:00–19:00; Sat 08:30–18:00 · 14 km
Botanic — garden centre
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