When to plant tomatoes in Victoria: 14 May – 31 August

In Victoria, tomato: sow for seedlings from 2 March to 10 July; plant into a greenhouse from 23 April to 31 August; plant out into open ground from 14 May to 31 August. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Mr. Fertilizer (garden centre, 2 km) and GardenWorks Oak Bay (garden centre, 4 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Tomato in Victoria: soil, season and weather

In Victoria the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 1 March, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 15 °C — the minimum on the tomato card — only around 14 May, 74 days later.

Last spring frost	1 March
Top 7 cm of soil at 15 °C	14 May, 74 days after the last frost
Into an unheated greenhouse	23 April – 31 August; April outside: 6.5 °C at night, 13.3 °C by day; card 16–27 °C
First autumn frost	21 December, 221 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	70
First harvest, if planted in this window	23 July – 9 November
Days left for picking	151
Daylight	12:18 on 23 March, 15:09 on 14 May
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 3 days; the driest month, July, has 2 rainy days

Tomato in Victoria: care after planting

Planted on 14 May: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

14 May — feed: balanced (NPK)
11 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 Victoria during the tomato season

No month of the season averages above the tomato card's 16–27 °C by day; the warmest, August, averages 24.6 °C. Months that stay below 16 °C even by day on average: October (14 °C), November (9.8 °C) and December (7.2 °C). Nights average below 16 °C in every month of the season, from 3.4 °C to 15.3 °C.

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
May	18	9.8	37	8	15:12
June	20.8	12.1	32	6	16:05
July	24.4	14.6	11	2	15:44
August	24.6	15.3	22	4	14:23
September	20.1	12.9	58	8	12:39
October	14	8.7	126	14	10:54
November	9.8	5.8	174	18	9:15
December	7.2	3.4	177	19	8:21

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Tomato in nearby cities

1 of the nearest cities share Victoria's date.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Vancouver	96 km	28 May – 28 July	14 days later
Seattle	120 km	17 May – 4 August	3 days later
Olympia	159 km	31 May – 26 July	17 days later
Kelowna	325 km	19 May – 11 July	5 days later
Portland	328 km	15 May – 2 August	1 day later
Salem	389 km	14 May – 28 July	same day

Where to buy tomato plants and seeds near Victoria

Buy plants ready to set out from 14 May to 31 August (from 23 April to 31 August for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 2 March to 10 July. Within 15 km of Victoria OpenStreetMap lists 6 garden centres, 1 farm-supply shop, 7 markets and 6 farm shops (collected 20 October 2026).

GARDENWORKS — garden centre
Blenkinsop Road 4290, V8X 2C2 Saanich · Mon–Fri 08:00–18:00, Mon - Fri 13:00 - 18:00 "closed during heat wave" · 6 km · gardenworks.ca
GardenWorks Oak Bay — garden centre
Oak Bay Avenue 2036 · Mon–Sun 09:00–18:00 · 4 km · gardenworks.ca
Gardenworks — garden centre
Island Highway 1859 · Mon–Sun 09:00–18:00 · 7 km · gardenworks.ca
Mr. Fertilizer — garden centre
Burnside Road West 9, V9A 1B2 · 2 km · shopvictoria.ca

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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