South of England Gardening Guide UK

South UK Gardening Guide

Southern England has the UK's longest and mildest growing season. Here's how to make the most of it.

Growing advice verified against RHS guidance by the SoilCommander Growing Team.

Advantages of the Southern Season

• Outdoor sowing can start from late February for cold-tolerant crops under cloches
• Tender crops (tomatoes, courgettes, beans) can go outside from late May
• Long summers allow outdoor tomatoes to ripen fully — choose longer-season varieties
• Overwintering crops (garlic, broad beans, spring cabbages) establish more reliably
• Hardy crops (leeks, kale, parsnips) can be harvested right through to April

Summer Challenges to Plan For

• Heat and drought: July and August bring dry spells; water regularly at the base of plants and mulch well
• Blight risk: warm, humid summers favour potato and tomato blight; monitor the Blightwatch alerts and choose resistant varieties
• Bolting: lettuce, spinach, and radishes bolt quickly in heat; choose bolt-resistant varieties and sow in shadier spots in midsummer

Frost nights and planting-out time

How many nights a month have an air frost (the air falls below 0 °C), on Met Office 1991–2020 averages. The RHS’s typical first safe time to plant out tender crops here is the second half of May (the first half on the south-west tip and the south coast); the last spring air frost usually comes two to four weeks before that, and exposed or high sites run one to three weeks later, sheltered town and coastal gardens one to two weeks earlier.

The figures show how much a garden’s position matters: on the Sussex coast at Shoreham the average is about 33 frost nights a year, at Heathrow 27, and inland at Woburn in Bedfordshire 49, with April frosts still averaging about four nights there.

Month by month

The main sowings and plantings each month, from our UK month guides:

• January: Plant outdoors: Bare-root fruit
• February: Sow indoors: Tomatoes; Sow indoors: Chillies, cucumbers, aubergines; Sow in guttering in the greenhouse: Peas
• March: Sow outdoors: Broad beans, peas, parsnips, turnips, maincrop onions, brassicas, kale, corn salad, land cress; Sow outdoors: Carrots, beetroot, lettuce, radish, spinach, leeks, chard, kohl rabi; Plant: Onion , shallot and garlic sets
• April: Plant: Second early potatoes; Plant: Maincrop potatoes; Sow outdoors: Carrots, beetroot, lettuce, peas, leeks, radish, chard, turnips, kohl rabi, spring onions, perpetual spinach
• May: Sow outdoors: French beans, runner beans, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins; Sow outdoors in blocks: Sweetcorn; Plant out: Tomatoes, courgettes, pumpkins
• June: Plant out: Tomatoes, courgettes, sweet peppers, ridge cucumbers, winter brassicas; Sow outdoors: French and runner beans, peas, squash, outdoor cucumbers; Sow outdoors in a block: Sweetcorn
• July: Sow outdoors: Spring cabbage, turnips, pak choi, Chinese cabbage, tatsoi, mizuna, chicory, fennel , winter salads; Sow outdoors: Carrots; Sow outdoors: French beans , runner beans
• August: Sow: Spring cabbage, turnips, mizuna, mibuna, Chinese cabbage, pak choi, overwintering onions; Sow: Radish, rocket , lettuce, chicory, sorrel, fennel; Sow: Spinach , corn salad, chard , kohl rabi
• September: Plant: Overwintering onion sets; Plant: Garlic; Sow: Spinach, winter lettuce, rocket , salad leaves
• October: Plant cloves outdoors: Garlic; Plant sets outdoors: Onion sets (overwintering); Sow where they will grow: Broad beans
• November: Plant cloves outdoors, or in modules in a cold frame: Garlic; Sow outside or under cloches; in cold areas, sow in pots under unheated glass: Broad beans; Sow to overwinter, in covered containers: First early peas
• December: Plant cloves: Garlic; Plant sets with the tip just showing: Shallots; Plant: Bare-root fruit trees and bushes

Crop guides to start with

• Potatoes
• Onions
• Garlic
• Broad beans
• Peas
• Carrots
• Beetroot
• Lettuce
• Runner beans
• Courgettes
• Tomatoes
• Leeks
• Kale
• Brussels sprouts
• Parsnips

See also the UK sowing calendar by region (269 crops) and regional gardening in the UK.

References

• Met Office: location-specific long-term averages, 1991–2020
• RHS: When to plant out tender plants – avoiding late frosts

Frost and rainfall figures are the Met Office’s published averages; planting-out timings are the RHS’s. The month notes summarise our UK month guides, which follow the RHS monthly jobs. Checked 24 October 2026.

See also: North of England Gardening Guide · Scotland Gardening Guide · UK Regional Gardening

Last updated 22 July 2026