It's July: in the UK right now you can sow salad leaves, spring cabbage, turnips and radishes outdoors, keep sowing beetroot and carrots for autumn, and plant out leeks and purple sprouting broccoli.
A quick overview of the UK vegetable planting calendar and the SoilCommander layout planner — what to sow, plant and harvest, month by month.
Last updated 22 July 2026
The table below is the full year at a glance — what to start under cover, what to sow directly outside, what to plant out and what should be ready to pick in every month. Dates are a UK-wide baseline checked against RHS guidance, so read them as reliable starting points: gardeners in the far South are usually a week or two ahead of them, and gardeners in the North a week or two behind.
Vegetable Planting Calendar UK By Month
| Month | Sow indoors or under cover | Sow outdoors | Plant out | Harvest | Full guide link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Onions, leeks, early lettuce, chillies and herbs. | Broad beans only in mild areas with protection. | Garlic and autumn onions if soil is workable. | Kale, leeks, parsnips, Brussels sprouts and winter salads. | What to plant in January UK |
| February | Tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, onions, leeks and lettuce. | Broad beans, early peas, spinach and protected carrots. | Garlic, autumn onions and shallots if not already planted. | Leeks, kale, parsnips, winter cabbage and stored squash. | What to plant in February UK |
| March | Tomatoes, peppers, leeks, onions, brassicas and herbs. | Carrots, beetroot, spinach, lettuce, peas, broad beans and radishes. | Onion sets, shallots, early potatoes and hardy brassicas. | Leeks, kale, purple sprouting broccoli and winter salads. | What to plant in March UK |
| April | Courgettes, squash, pumpkins, sweetcorn, cucumbers and French beans. | Carrots, parsnips, beetroot, peas, lettuce, spring onions and radishes. | Early potatoes, onion sets, lettuce, brassicas and broad beans. | Spring greens, overwintered spinach, radishes and herbs. | What to plant in April UK |
| May | Courgettes, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, sweetcorn and basil. | Beetroot, carrots, lettuce, radishes, French beans, runner beans and spinach. | Tomatoes, sweetcorn, courgettes, squash, brassicas and leeks after frost risk. | Lettuce, radishes, spring onions, early peas and herbs. | What to plant in May UK |
| June | Basil, winter brassicas, late courgettes and lettuce modules. | Carrots, beetroot, French beans, salad leaves, radishes, spring onions, chard and pak choi. | Leeks, brassicas, sweetcorn, tomatoes, courgettes, squash and runner beans. | Lettuce, spring onions, early potatoes, peas, broad beans and radishes. | What to plant in June UK |
| July | Spring cabbage, winter brassicas, lettuce modules and herbs. | Lettuce, radishes, spring onions, beetroot, carrots, chard, spinach, pak choi and turnips. | Leeks, kale, purple sprouting broccoli and cabbages. | Early potatoes, peas, broad beans, lettuce, courgettes, beetroot and carrots. | What to plant in July UK |
| August | Spring cabbage, winter lettuce and oriental leaves. | Spinach, chard, lettuce, radishes, spring onions, turnips, pak choi and winter salads. | Leeks, kale, cabbage, winter brassicas and late salads. | Tomatoes, courgettes, beans, potatoes, beetroot, carrots and lettuce. | What to plant in August UK |
| September | Lettuce, oriental leaves, herbs and microgreens under cover. | Winter salads, spinach, spring onions, overwintering onions and green manures. | Spring cabbage, hardy salads, onion sets and garlic later in the month. | Tomatoes, beans, courgettes, potatoes, carrots and beetroot. | What to plant in September UK |
| October | Microgreens, herbs, lettuce and oriental leaves under cover. | Broad beans in mild areas, hardy peas and winter salads under cover. | Garlic, autumn onion sets, shallots, spring cabbage and hardy salads. | Pumpkins, squash, leeks, kale, carrots and maincrop potatoes. | What to plant in October UK |
| November | Microgreens, winter lettuce, herbs and early onions under cover. | Broad beans in mild areas and hardy peas with protection. | Garlic, autumn onion sets and shallots. | Leeks, kale, parsnips, Brussels sprouts and winter cabbage. | What to plant in November UK |
| December | Microgreens, herbs, early onions and protected lettuce. | Very little; broad beans only in mild, workable soil. | Garlic and autumn onions if soil is not waterlogged. | Kale, leeks, parsnips, Brussels sprouts and winter salads. | What to plant in December UK |
How to Use This UK Vegetable Planting Calendar
The dates in this calendar are starting points, not guarantees. They represent typical UK conditions — but your garden is not typical. It has its own soil, its own shelter, its own microclimate, and its own weather history.
Use the calendar as a framework, then adjust for what you actually observe:
- Tender crops (tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, peppers, sweetcorn) should not go outside simply because the calendar month has arrived. They need consistently warm nights — not just warm days.
- Local frost risk, shelter, and recent weather all matter more than the date on the page.
- Check a short-range forecast before permanently planting tender crops outside. A single late frost can undo weeks of careful propagation.
- Hardy crops (kale, broad beans, leeks, chard) are far more forgiving — but even these benefit from reading the conditions rather than the calendar alone.
The most productive UK kitchen gardeners treat this calendar as a conversation starter, not a rulebook.
One habit turns this general calendar into a personal one: keep simple notes. A line each week — what you sowed, when it germinated, what the weather did — and within a couple of seasons you will know your plot's true sowing windows better than any national chart can tell you.
Turn These Dates Into a Real Garden Layout
The calendar tells you when to sow. The Garden Layout Planner shows you where — with your garden shape, crop spacing, companion planting pairs and a month-by-month plan built around your exact crop list.
What Vegetables Can I Plant Now In The UK?
In July, UK gardeners can focus on: Sow lettuce, radishes, spring onions, beetroot, carrots, chard, spinach, pak choi, turnips, spring cabbage, and quick salad crops.
July priority: water deeply in dry spells, harvest little and often, and use cleared beds for fast crops or autumn brassicas.
Calendar dates and regional guidance verified against RHS guidance by the SoilCommander Growing Team.
Late frost risk does not disappear simply because spring feels advanced. The Met Office notes that frost can still occur well into May across parts of the UK — a single cold clear night is all it takes to damage tender transplants that have been hardened off for weeks.
UK Regional Planting-Out Timing
The dates in the month-by-month table below are a UK-wide baseline. RHS regional guidance breaks safe planting-out timing for tender crops into five bands.
| Region | Typical planting-out window |
|---|---|
| South-west England, far south coast | First to second half of May |
| Southern England | Mid-May |
| Midlands, north-west England, Yorkshire, north Wales | End of May |
| Northern England, southern Scotland | Early June |
| Scottish Highlands | Mid-June |
Your garden within your region
The regional bands above are a useful starting point, but your specific plot can behave quite differently from the regional average. A few factors that genuinely shift your practical timing:
- Sheltered urban gardens often warm earlier and hold heat longer than open rural sites — city heat-island effects are real and measurable.
- Coastal gardens tend to experience milder winters and cooler summers, with reduced frost risk near the sea — but exposed coastal sites can suffer from salt-laden winds that damage tender foliage.
- Frost pockets — low-lying areas, the foot of slopes, or gardens enclosed by walls and hedges that trap cold air — can experience ground frost significantly later than surrounding land.
- Higher or more exposed sites — hillside gardens, open moorland edges — may need to delay planting out tender crops by one to two weeks beyond the regional band.
- South-facing beds warm faster in spring and can allow earlier sowing of direct-sown crops, even if the rest of the garden is not yet ready.
Treat the regional table as a guide, not a guarantee. Your own observations over two or three seasons will tell you more about your garden's true frost risk than any national average.
Evidence & References
Why Soil Temperature Can Matter More Than the Date
A calendar date tells you when conditions are typically suitable. Soil temperature tells you whether conditions are actually suitable — right now, in your bed, at seed depth.
Seed germination is a biological process driven by temperature. Different vegetable species have different temperature requirements, and a seed sown into cold soil will either sit dormant, rot, or germinate so slowly that it becomes vulnerable to pests and disease. A warm calendar date does not guarantee warm soil — particularly after a cold, wet spring, or in a north-facing bed that has been slow to warm.
A simple soil thermometer (pushed to roughly 5–10 cm depth, read in the morning) gives you a direct measurement that no calendar can replicate. As a general principle:
- Cool-season crops (lettuce, spinach, peas, broad beans, carrots, beetroot) can germinate in relatively cool soil — many will make a start once soil has warmed from the cold of winter.
- Warm-season crops (tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, French beans, sweetcorn, peppers) need meaningfully warmer soil to germinate reliably. Sowing these into cold soil outdoors is rarely productive.
- Soil temperature varies by depth, aspect, and recent weather — two beds in the same garden can read differently on the same morning.
If you are direct sowing and germination seems slow or patchy, soil temperature is often the first variable worth checking — before assuming the seed is at fault.
Successional Sowing: Sow Little and Often
One of the most common frustrations in a UK vegetable garden is the glut — a fortnight of more lettuce than you can eat, followed by nothing. Successional sowing is the practical answer: instead of sowing an entire packet at once, sow small batches at intervals through the season.
Rather than one large sowing of radishes in April, make a small sowing every two to three weeks from March through to August. Each batch matures in turn, giving you a steady supply rather than a single overwhelming harvest. The same logic applies to lettuce, spinach, spring onions, beetroot, chard, and many other crops.
- Intervals vary by crop and conditions. A fast crop like radish can be re-sown every two weeks. A slower crop like beetroot benefits from three to four week gaps.
- Not every crop suits succession sowing. Crops with a long growing season — parsnips, maincrop potatoes, winter squash — are typically sown once at the right time.
- Cleared beds can be re-used. Once a fast crop is harvested, that space can receive a new sowing or transplant — extending the productive use of your beds through the season.
- Conditions affect timing. A cold, wet spell may slow germination. A hot dry period may cause lettuce to bolt faster than expected. Observe what is happening in the garden, not just the schedule.
A simple way to keep the rhythm going: every time you clear a row, sow its replacement the same day. The bed never sits idle, and the sowing interval largely takes care of itself.
Direct Sowing vs Starting Indoors: Which Crops Need Which?
Not all vegetables should be started in the same way. The choice between direct sowing and starting indoors reflects the biology of the crop, the length of the UK growing season, and the conditions available to you.
Starting crops indoors does not automatically produce better plants — it produces plants that have had a protected start, which is only an advantage if the transplant is handled well and outdoor conditions are genuinely ready. A seedling raised on a warm windowsill or in a heated propagator has never experienced wind, direct sun, or fluctuating night temperatures. Move it outside too abruptly and the shock can stunt growth, scorch leaves, or kill the plant entirely. Proper hardening off — gradually exposing seedlings to outdoor conditions over a week to ten days — is what bridges the gap between a protected start and a successful garden plant. Skip that step, and the head start you gained indoors is quickly lost. Equally, if the soil outside is still cold, waterlogged, or the nights are dropping below safe thresholds, an indoor-started transplant will simply sit and sulk — or worse, succumb to slug damage or root rot while waiting for conditions to improve.
When you are unsure which route a crop needs, the seed packet is the quickest tiebreaker: UK suppliers print sowing advice for every route the variety genuinely suits, and that variety-specific guidance beats any general rule — including the table below.
| Approach | Typical crops | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Commonly direct sown | Carrots, parsnips, beetroot, radishes, peas, broad beans, spinach, chard, spring onions, turnips | These crops either dislike root disturbance, germinate quickly in open ground, or have no meaningful advantage from indoor propagation. |
| Commonly started indoors or under cover | Tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, courgettes, cucumbers, sweetcorn, celeriac, leeks, onions, brassicas | These crops need a longer growing season than the UK outdoor season reliably provides, or benefit from a protected start to avoid early pest pressure. |
| Either approach can work | Lettuce, French beans, kale, chard, herbs | Conditions, timing, and available space determine which approach is more practical. |
Growing soft fruit alongside your vegetables? See our guide to growing strawberries in the UK.
Evidence & References
