When to plant tomatoes in Brighton: 18 June – 11 August

In Brighton, tomato: sow for seedlings from 6 April to 20 June; plant into a greenhouse from 28 May to 11 August; plant out into open ground from 18 June to 11 August. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Between Two Thorns (garden centre, 0 km) and Rooted & Co (garden centre, 0 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Tomato in Brighton: soil, season and weather

In Brighton the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 8 February, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 15 °C — the minimum on the tomato card — only around 18 June, 130 days later.

Last spring frost	8 February
Top 7 cm of soil at 15 °C	18 June, 130 days after the last frost
Into an unheated greenhouse	28 May – 11 August; May outside: 10.6 °C at night, 13.8 °C by day; card 16–27 °C
First autumn frost	1 December, 166 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	70
First harvest, if planted in this window	27 August – 20 October
Days left for picking	96
Daylight	14:31 on 27 April, 16:31 on 18 June
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 3 days; the driest month, June, has 9 rainy days

Tomato in Brighton: care after planting

Planted on 18 June: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

18 June — feed: balanced (NPK)
16 July — feed: nitrogen

Pests and diseases of tomato 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 Brighton during the tomato season

No month of the season averages above the tomato card's 16–27 °C by day; the warmest, August, averages 19.2 °C. Months that stay below 16 °C even by day on average: October (15.8 °C), November (12.3 °C) and December (10.3 °C). Nights average below 16 °C in June and September–December (7.6–15.1 °C).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
June	16.5	13.8	53	9	16:29
July	18.6	16	53	10	16:06
August	19.2	16.5	63	10	14:36
September	18.2	15.1	87	11	12:42
October	15.8	12.9	131	15	10:47
November	12.3	9.3	121	15	8:59
December	10.3	7.6	106	16	7:59

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Tomato in nearby cities

All the nearest cities on our list plant tomato earlier than Brighton; the closest date is in Oxford, 23 days earlier.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Portsmouth	67 km	21 May – 11 August	28 days earlier
London	76 km	24 May – 3 August	25 days earlier
Southampton	89 km	23 May – 3 August	26 days earlier
Oxford	129 km	26 May – 3 August	23 days earlier
Le Havre	150 km	11 May – 22 August	38 days earlier
Cambridge	153 km	24 May – 4 August	25 days earlier

Where to buy tomato plants and seeds near Brighton

Buy plants ready to set out from 18 June to 11 August (from 28 May to 11 August for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 6 April to 20 June. Within 15 km of Brighton OpenStreetMap lists 18 garden centres, 6 plant nurseries, 5 markets and 2 farm shops (collected 20 October 2026).

Dobbies — garden centre
Warren Road, BN2 9XX Brighton · Mon–Sat 09:00–18:00; Sun 10:30–16:30 · 2 km · dobbies.com
Between Two Thorns — garden centre
Trafalgar Street 91, BN1 4ER Brighton · 0 km · betweentwothorns.com
Notcutts Garden Pride — garden centre
Common Lane, BN6 8TN Hassocks · 12 km · notcutts.co.uk
Rooted & Co — garden centre
Marshalls Row, BN1 4JU Brighton · 0 km · rootedco.co.uk

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.

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