When to plant tomatoes in Valence: 1 May – 1 August

In Valence, tomato: sow for seedlings from 17 February to 10 June; plant into a greenhouse from 10 April to 1 August; plant out into open ground from 1 May to 1 August. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Culture Indoor (garden centre, 1 km) and LaMaison.fr (garden centre, 4 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Tomato 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 15 °C — the minimum on the tomato card — only around 1 May, 44 days later.

Last spring frost	18 March
Top 7 cm of soil at 15 °C	1 May, 44 days after the last frost
Into an unheated greenhouse	10 April – 1 August; April outside: 6.8 °C at night, 17.4 °C by day; card 16–27 °C
First autumn frost	21 November, 204 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	70
First harvest, if planted in this window	10 July – 10 October
Days left for picking	134
Daylight	11:36 on 10 March, 14:14 on 1 May
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 3 days; the driest month, August, has 6 rainy days

Tomato in Valence: care after planting

Planted on 1 May: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

1 May — feed: balanced (NPK)
29 May — 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 Valence during the tomato season

Days average above the tomato card's 16–27 °C in July (29.3 °C) and August (29.4 °C). Months that stay below 16 °C even by day on average: November (12.1 °C). Nights average below 16 °C in May, June and September–November (4.9–15.8 °C).

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

Tomato in nearby cities

Around Valence, Nîmes is 14 days earlier and Grenoble 50 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Saint-Étienne	70 km	30 May – 28 July	29 days later
Grenoble	70 km	20 June – 5 July	50 days later
Lyon	92 km	2 May – 5 August	1 day later
Chambéry	106 km	13 May – 31 July	12 days later
Avignon	109 km	18 April – 12 August	13 days earlier
Nîmes	129 km	17 April – 11 August	14 days earlier

Where to buy tomato plants and seeds near Valence

Buy plants ready to set out from 1 May to 1 August (from 10 April to 1 August for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 17 February to 10 June. Within 15 km of Valence OpenStreetMap lists 17 garden centres, 3 plant nurseries, 8 markets and 21 farm shops (collected 27 October 2026).

Culture Indoor — garden centre
Avenue de Romans 135 · Mon 12:00–18:00; Tue–Fri 11:00–19:00; Sat 10:00–18:00 · 1 km · cultureindoor.com
Cooptain Saint-Péray — garden centre
Avenue Victor Tassini 18 · Mon–Fri 08:00–12:00 · 6 km · cooptain.com
LaMaison.fr — garden centre
Mon–Fri 09:00–12:00, 14:00–19:00; Sat 09:00–12:30, 14:00–19:00 · 4 km · lamaison.fr
Serres des Lacs — garden centre
Mon–Sun 08:00–12:00, 13:30–19:00 · 5 km · serresdeslacs.fr

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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