When to plant tomatoes in Lucerne: 15 June – 30 June

In Lucerne, tomato: sow for seedlings from 3 April to 9 May; plant into a greenhouse from 25 May to 30 June; plant out into open ground from 15 June to 30 June. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Brändi Dorfgärtnerei (garden centre, 3 km) and Luzerner Garten (garden centre, 4 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Tomato in Lucerne: soil, season and weather

In Lucerne the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 2 May, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 15 °C — the minimum on the tomato card — only around 15 June, 44 days later. 127 days separate planting out (15 June) from the first autumn frost (20 October); the card's 70 days to the first harvest leave 57 for picking, so a start 8 weeks late would still fit.

Last spring frost	2 May
Top 7 cm of soil at 15 °C	15 June, 44 days after the last frost
Into an unheated greenhouse	25 May – 30 June; May outside: 4.4 °C at night, 12.7 °C by day; card 16–27 °C
First autumn frost	20 October, 127 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	70
First harvest, if planted in this window	24 August – 8 September
Days left for picking	57
Daylight	14:03 on 24 April, 15:53 on 15 June
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 3 days; the driest month, October, has 13 rainy days

Tomato in Lucerne: care after planting

Planted on 15 June: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

15 June — feed: balanced (NPK)
13 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 Lucerne during the tomato season

No month of the season averages above the tomato card's 16–27 °C by day; the warmest, August, averages 19.4 °C. Months that stay below 16 °C even by day on average: September (15.4 °C) and October (12.1 °C). Nights average below 16 °C in every month of the season, from 4.1 °C to 11.5 °C.

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
June	18.2	9.7	177	19	15:53
July	19.3	11.5	215	20	15:33
August	19.4	11.4	192	16	14:16
September	15.4	7.8	160	16	12:37
October	12.1	4.1	134	13	10:57

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Tomato in nearby cities

Around Lucerne, Basel is 32 days earlier and Locarno 24 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Zurich	41 km	29 May – 27 July	17 days earlier
Bern	66 km	3 June – 14 July	12 days earlier
Basel	79 km	14 May – 31 July	32 days earlier
St. Gallen	90 km	30 May – 29 July	16 days earlier
Fribourg	92 km	5 June – 17 July	10 days earlier
Locarno	105 km	9 July – 14 July	24 days later

Where to buy tomato plants and seeds near Lucerne

Buy plants ready to set out from 15 June to 30 June (from 25 May to 30 June for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 3 April to 9 May. Within 15 km of Lucerne OpenStreetMap lists 7 garden centres, 1 farm-supply shop, 1 plant nursery, 16 markets and 37 farm shops (collected 27 October 2026).

Bonsania GmbH — garden centre
Mon–Fri 08:00–17:00; Sat 09:00–16:00 · 4 km · bonsania.ch
Luzerner Garten — garden centre
Adligenswilerstrasse 113, 6030 Ebikon · 4 km
Brändi Dorfgärtnerei — garden centre
Mon 13:30–18:00; Tue–Fri 08:00–12:00, 13:30–18:00; Sat 08:00–16:00 · 3 km
Landi Agrar — farm supply
Huwilstrasse 7, 6280 Hochdorf · 14 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.

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