← The vegetable garden H10-03 · Module 3 of 7 · Pages: 21 · Worksheets: 6

Sowing and planting by climate zone

When to sow and plant 30 crops in lowland, upland and mild coastal areas of the UK and Ireland, with USDA zone notes, calendars and your own dates

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Sowing and planting by climate zone

In short

  • Three zones: lowland (last frost around 1 May), upland and north (around 25 May), mild coast (around 1 April). In the US and Canada, use the frost dates for your zone and town.
  • Every crop has a deadline in weeks before or after the last frost. The same number works in every zone.
  • Soil temperature matters more than the date: French beans need 12 °C (54 °F), cucumbers 15 °C, peppers 15 °C.
  • Cool-season crops (peas, spinach, onions, cabbage) go in before the frost, warm-season crops (tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans) after it.
  • On the mild coasts autumn and winter are a second season; in the hot US South, summer is the break.

What's inside

Chapters

  1. Three zones in the UK and Ireland
  2. Last frost and soil temperature
  3. Cool-season and warm-season crops
  4. Table: warm-season crops
  5. Table: cool-season crops
  6. Spacing, depth and days to harvest
  7. Direct sowing step by step
  8. Successional and autumn sowing
  9. Upland and north: a short season
  10. Mild coast: a second season in winter
  11. Common mistakes
  12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

  • Calendar for the lowland zone
  • Calendar for the upland zone
  • Calendar for the mild coast
  • My dates
  • Seed calculator for direct sowing
  • Sowing log and planting stock

Fields and checkboxes can be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader (desktop and mobile), and the calculator adds up by itself. Filling in may not work in some browsers. A print version comes with the screen PDF.

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