When to plant tomatoes in Dortmund: 16 May – 27 July

In Dortmund, tomato: sow for seedlings from 4 March to 5 June; plant into a greenhouse from 25 April to 27 July; plant out into open ground from 16 May to 27 July. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Gartencenter Augsburg (garden centre, 8 km) and Pflanzenland Dahlke (garden centre, 9 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Tomato in Dortmund: soil, season and weather

In Dortmund the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 17 April, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 15 °C — the minimum on the tomato card — only around 16 May, 29 days later.

Last spring frost	17 April
Top 7 cm of soil at 15 °C	16 May, 29 days after the last frost
Into an unheated greenhouse	25 April – 27 July; April outside: 4.7 °C at night, 14.2 °C by day; card 16–27 °C
First autumn frost	16 November, 184 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	70
First harvest, if planted in this window	25 July – 5 October
Days left for picking	114
Daylight	12:28 on 25 March, 15:38 on 16 May
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 3 days; the driest month, May, has 12 rainy days

Tomato in Dortmund: care after planting

Planted on 16 May: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

16 May — feed: balanced (NPK)
13 June — 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 Dortmund during the tomato season

No month of the season averages above the tomato card's 16–27 °C by day; the warmest, August, averages 23.8 °C. Months that stay below 16 °C even by day on average: October (15.3 °C) and November (9.6 °C). Nights average below 16 °C in every month of the season, from 4.2 °C to 14.6 °C.

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
May	18.6	8.7	65	12	15:35
June	22.9	13.3	78	12	16:36
July	23.4	14.2	78	14	16:12
August	23.8	14.6	72	13	14:40
September	20.2	11.6	72	12	12:43
October	15.3	9	77	15	10:45
November	9.6	4.2	71	14	8:54

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Tomato in nearby cities

All the nearest cities on our list plant tomato earlier than Dortmund; the closest date is in Bochum, 3 days earlier.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Bochum	18 km	13 May – 31 July	3 days earlier
Essen	32 km	11 May – 1 August	5 days earlier
Duisburg	50 km	10 May – 2 August	6 days earlier
Münster	51 km	11 May – 1 August	5 days earlier
Düsseldorf	57 km	10 May – 1 August	6 days earlier
Cologne	73 km	12 May – 31 July	4 days earlier

Where to buy tomato plants and seeds near Dortmund

Buy plants ready to set out from 16 May to 27 July (from 25 April to 27 July for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 4 March to 5 June. Within 15 km of Dortmund OpenStreetMap lists 24 garden centres, 2 farm-supply shops, 3 plant nurseries, 21 markets and 35 farm shops (collected 28 October 2026).

Gartencenter Augsburg — garden centre
Hörder Straße 119, 58239 Schwerte · Mon–Fri 09:00–18:30; Sat 09:00–18:00; Sun 11:00–16:00 · 8 km · gartencenter-augsburg.de
Pflanzenland Dahlke — garden centre
Brechtener Straße 144, 44536 Lünen · 24/7 closed · 9 km · pflanzenland-dahlke.de
Dehner Gartencenter — garden centre
Liegnitzer Straße 7, 58454 Witten · Mon–Sat 09:00–20:00; Sun, public holidays closed · 10 km · dehner.de
Gartencenter Pötschke GmbH & Co. KG — garden centre
Overberger Weg 11a, 58239 Schwerte · Mon–Fri 09:00–19:00; Sat 09:00–18:00; Sun 10:30–15:30 · 10 km · gartencenter-poetschke.de

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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