The UK Vegetable Growing Calendar: What to Sow and When

One of the most common questions new growers ask is when to sow what. The honest answer is that there is no single date that works for every garden in the UK. A grower in Cornwall can be sowing outdoors in February, while someone in the Scottish Highlands is still dealing with hard frosts in April.

What I can give you is a framework based on the UK growing season, along with the principles you should use to adapt it to your specific location.

The principle that matters more than any date

Your last frost date is the most important piece of local information you can have. Everything you grow outside from seed or transplant needs to be started either after this date or in enough time to be established and hardened before it arrives in autumn.

Screenshot of the Weather Alerts feature inside GrowTrack dated 23 December 2025, described as bed-specific frost, heat, and environmental warnings. The dashboard shows 1 high priority alert, 1 medium priority alert, and 19 beds monitored. A green Get Personalized Protection Advice panel reads ask Rowan about protecting your specific crops from frost, heat, or wind, with an Ask Rowan button. A 7-day forecast shows temperatures from 23 December through to Monday: today 8 degrees with a low of 5 degrees and light drizzle at 0.2mm, tomorrow 5 degrees low of 2 degrees overcast, Thursday 4 degrees low of 0 degrees clear sky, Friday 3 degrees low of 0 degrees clear sky, Saturday 5 degrees low of 1 degree overcast, Sunday 5 degrees low of 3 degrees overcast, Monday 5 degrees low of 2 degrees overcast. — The Weather Alerts dashboard in GrowTrack dated 23 December 2025, showing 1 high-priority alert, 1 medium-priority alert, and 19 beds being monitored for frost, heat, and environmental conditions. The 7-day forecast shows temperatures dropping to 0 degrees overnight on Thursday and Friday, which, alongside the active high priority alert, indicates frost risk across those beds. The green Ask Rowan panel allows the grower to request specific crop protection advice for frost, heat, or wind conditions based on what is actually growing. Weather Alerts translates weather data into growing decisions, not generic forecasts.

Find your approximate last frost date by asking other growers locally, checking a weather service, or logging your own observations over two or three seasons. In most of England and Wales, the last frost falls between mid-March and late April. In Scotland and elevated areas, it can be significantly later.

Broad monthly guide for UK growers

January and February
Indoors only: broad beans, onion sets, early lettuce under heat. Most of the country is still too cold for outdoor sowing. Use this time to plan, order seeds, and prepare beds.

March
Indoors: tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, courgettes, cucumbers (all need heat to germinate). Outdoors under cover or in a coldframe: early carrots, peas, broad beans, hardy salad leaves.

April
Outdoors after last frost risk: potatoes, onion sets, beetroot, lettuce, spinach, chard, radishes, peas. Continue indoor sowing of tender crops. Begin hardening off indoor seedlings.

May
Plant out hardened tomatoes, courgettes, and cucumbers after the last frost date. Direct sow beans, sweet corn (in southern areas), and squash. The main outdoor sowing season is in full swing.

June
Direct sow French beans, continue succession sowing salads and radishes. Plant out late tomatoes. Sow winter brassicas for autumn harvest.

July
Sow late salads, oriental leaves, spinach for autumn. Winter brassica planting continues. Begin thinking about clearing space for autumn crops.

August
Sow winter salads, spring onions, and overwintering onions. Plant garlic cloves in late August in warmer areas. Last chance for autumn beetroot and carrots.

September and October
Plant garlic. Sow winter lettuce and oriental greens under cover. Clear spent crops. Add compost to beds for next season.

November to December
Planning time. Order seeds for next year. Broad beans can be sown outdoors in mild areas. Protect any crops still in the ground.

Tools that help you localise your calendar

A generic calendar like this is a starting point. Your actual sowing dates depend on your specific location, your microclimate, and what growing structures you have available. GrowTrack uses your location data to give you personalised seasonal guidance rather than generic UK-wide advice.