How to Grow Turmerics UK
On this page
In the UK, turmeric goes in the ground early March to early May, and is ready to harvest 150–210 days after planting.
Timing is the decision that matters most in the UK: sowing early March, and that same window applies across all 4 regions covered here.
The short answer
- Plant
- Early March to early May
- Ready in
- 150–210 days
- Site
- 3+ hours of sun
- Biggest risk
- Bacterial wilt
Core growing advice on this page is checked against named horticultural sources — see References.
Turmeric (Curcuma longa)
6 sources cited · Verified
When to Plant Turmerics in the UK
When to plant turmerics in the UK: in Southern England, sow early March to early May. Find your area in the table below.
Quick Facts
At a Glance
Growth Stages
Harvest & Storage
Diseases
Pests
Turmeric, Grown Under Glass for its Golden Rhizome
Plan your Turmerics planting
When to sow and plant Turmerics depends on your own frost dates. Check the UK vegetable planting calendar. To work out where it fits in your beds, sketch your plot in the free Garden Layout Planner.
Growing Turmeric in another region
Sowing dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.
References
-
Perennial herb hardy in USDA zones 8-11; in colder regions grown as an annual with the rhizomes lifted and stored indoors. Reaches 3-4ft tall with a similar spread. Full sun or partial shade (2-6 hours). Wants rich, slightly acidic soil high in organic matter, kept medium to wet -- it tolerates good drainage, moist and occasionally wet ground. Propagated by dividing the rhizomes in spring or summer. Rhizomes are harvested in autumn when the foliage begins to wilt and dry out, then stored somewhere cool and dry. Pests: red spider mites on older plants and where soil is too dry; slugs and snails on young leaves.
-
RHS explicitly does not recommend pesticide use against aphids; recommends tolerance, manual squashing, and encouraging/purchasing natural predators (ladybirds, hoverflies, lacewings, parasitoid wasps, earwigs) as biological control, especially under glass.
-
RHS factsheet on glasshouse red spider mite (two-spotted spider mite), naming tomato and strawberry among the host plants affected under glass or in a polytunnel.
6 independent sources are cited for this crop. Where they disagree - soil pH is the clearest case - every figure is preserved rather than averaged into false precision.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I sow turmeric in the UK?
In Southern England, from early March. In Scotland, wait until early March. Treat these as a guide rather than a fixed date — the governing rule is to sow only once frost risk has passed and temperatures are reliably warm enough.
When do I sow turmeric?
Sow early March to early May, at around 21°C for germination.
How long does turmeric take to grow?
Typically 150–210 days, depending on cultivar and growing conditions.
What problems affect turmeric?
Our data links 3 diseases and 6 pests to this crop. See the sections above for each one and how to manage it.
Plan next season before the problems start
Most of the advice on this page comes down to timing and spacing — sowing at the right moment, rotating beds, and giving plants enough airflow. The UK Garden Planner lays your plot out month by month so those decisions are already made before the season starts.
Get the UK Garden Planner →Instant PDF download · Written for UK growing conditions
How this guide is put together
The growing data on this page — sowing windows, pests, diseases, soil and site requirements — comes from named horticultural sources, listed in References below, checked against RHS and Met Office guidance. An automated pipeline assembles that verified data into the page you're reading: it selects which facts to lead with and builds the surrounding prose and layout. It does not invent a date, a source or a number — where a verified value for a field isn't available, the page leaves it out rather than guessing. A person reviews and publishes each page; nothing goes live unverified.
Related Problem Guides
Last verified 2026-09-02
Plan Turmerics by month
The months this guide gives for sowing or planting, each with the full list of jobs for that month in the UK:
More from the same group (herbs & aromatics):
Growing advice for your part of the UK
Timing and conditions change a lot inside one country. These guides cover frost dates and growing seasons region by region.
Where To Go From Here
Take this crop from reading into a written plan for your own beds.
Keep going
Plan the next step
Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.