Regional Gardening UK
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UK Regional Gardening Guide
Timing, climate, and crop choice vary significantly across the UK. Here's how to adapt your growing calendar to your region.
Growing advice verified against RHS guidance by the SoilCommander Growing Team.
Frost and planting-out times by region
The numbers are the Met Office’s 1991–2020 averages: how many nights a month have an air frost (the air temperature falls below 0 °C). The last column is the RHS’s typical first safe date for planting out tender crops such as tomatoes, courgettes and beans, in an average year. The RHS notes that the last spring air frost usually comes two to four weeks before that date, and that ground frost can follow later still.
| Region | Air-frost nights, April | May | October | November | Per year | Plant out tender crops (RHS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South & South-East England | 2.8 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 4.5 | 43 | second half of May (first to second half of May on the south coast) |
| Midlands | 3.2 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 4.9 | 48 | end of May |
| Wales | 3.4 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 4.2 | 45 | second half of May in south Wales; end of May in north Wales |
| North of England | 3.7 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 5.2 | 51 | end of May (north-west and Yorkshire); early June (north-east) |
| Scotland | 6.0 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 7.8 | 72 | early June in southern Scotland; mid June in the Highlands and the north |
| Northern Ireland | 3.0 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 3.9 | 41 | early June |
Averages hide a lot: a frost pocket, a hill garden or an exposed site runs later than the regional figure, and a sheltered town garden or the coast earlier. The RHS suggests planting 1–2 weeks earlier in sheltered, urban or coastal spots and 1–3 weeks later on exposed or high ground, and waiting until nights stay above 7 °C. In Edinburgh, the Royal Botanic Garden notes that the last frost usually comes around May but most local growers wait until June to plant out tender crops.
The five growing regions
South & South-East England
The earliest part of the UK for planting out, and the fewest spring frosts.
South of England gardening guide →Midlands & Wales
Planting out runs from the second half of May in south Wales to the end of May in the Midlands and north Wales; frost pockets in the Welsh borders and the Vale of Worcester run later.
Midlands & Wales gardening guide →North of England
More frost nights than the south in spring and autumn; planting out runs to the end of May or early June.
North of England gardening guide →Scotland
The most frost nights of any UK region, with frost still possible in May; tender crops wait until June.
Scotland gardening guide →Northern Ireland
A mild, maritime climate with fewer frost nights per year than England as a whole, but tender crops still wait until early June.
Northern Ireland gardening guide →For crop-by-crop timing in each region, use the UK sowing calendar by region (269 crops); for the month-by-month view, the UK vegetable planting calendar and monthly and seasonal gardening in the UK.
References
- Met Office: location-specific long-term averages, 1991–2020 — district and region averages for England SE & Central S, Midlands, Wales, England N, Scotland and Northern Ireland (read from the Woburn, Heathrow, Shawbury, Coleshill, Cardiff, Durham, Edinburgh and Armagh pages).
- RHS: When to plant out tender plants – avoiding late frosts
- Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh: Time to plant out frost tender vegetables
Figures are the Met Office’s published averages; planting-out timings are the RHS’s. Both sources and RBGE (for Scotland) were opened and checked on 24 October 2026.
Plan Every Month of Your Growing Year
Month-by-month sowing schedules for every UK region — all in one printable PDF.
Get the UK Garden Planner →Match The Season To The Work
Seasonal jobs come down to timing, soil care, and keeping a simple record of what needs doing next.
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.