Vegetable Planting Calendar UK
Your month-by-month guide to what to sow, plant and harvest — all year round.
Most planting charts are written for somewhere warmer than here. This one isn't — every date below is set against UK frost patterns and the way our seasons actually behave.
This is a complete UK veg planting calendar — a month-by-month vegetable growing calendar showing what to sow indoors, what to sow outdoors, what to plant out and what is ready to harvest, for all twelve months. If you are trying to work out what vegetables you can plant now, go straight to the current month in the chart below: it lists the crops worth sowing or planting in UK conditions this month, alongside the jobs that go with them. Timings are given as realistic windows rather than single dates, because a plot in Cornwall and a plot in Aberdeen do not share a growing season. Southern, coastal and urban gardens typically run two to three weeks ahead of the table; northern, upland and exposed sites run two to three weeks behind. Treat the chart as your baseline and shift it to match your own last and first frost dates.
- UK conditions
- Month-by-month
- Sow to harvest
- Allotments & gardens
The whole year, side by side
What to sow indoors, sow outdoors, plant out and harvest — every month at a glance.
| Month | Sow indoors | Sow outdoors | Plant out | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Onions, leeks, early lettuce, chillies, herbs | Broad beans in mild areas, with protection | Garlic and autumn onions if soil is workable | Kale, leeks, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, winter salads |
| February | Tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, onions, leeks, lettuce | Broad beans, early peas, spinach, protected carrots | Garlic, autumn onions, shallots | Leeks, kale, parsnips, winter cabbage, stored squash |
| March | Tomatoes, peppers, leeks, onions, brassicas, herbs | Carrots, beetroot, spinach, lettuce, peas, broad beans, radishes | Onion sets, shallots, early potatoes, hardy brassicas | Leeks, kale, purple sprouting broccoli, winter salads |
| April | Courgettes, squash, pumpkins, sweetcorn, cucumbers, French beans | Carrots, parsnips, beetroot, peas, lettuce, spring onions, radishes | Early potatoes, onion sets, lettuce, brassicas, broad beans | Spring greens, overwintered spinach, radishes, herbs |
| May | Courgettes, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, sweetcorn, basil | Beetroot, carrots, lettuce, radishes, French and runner beans, spinach | Tomatoes, sweetcorn, courgettes, squash, brassicas, leeks — after frost | Lettuce, radishes, spring onions, early peas, herbs |
| June | Basil, winter brassicas, late courgettes, lettuce modules | Carrots, beetroot, French beans, salad leaves, radishes, chard, pak choi | Leeks, brassicas, sweetcorn, tomatoes, courgettes, squash, runner beans | Lettuce, spring onions, early potatoes, peas, broad beans, radishes |
| July | Spring cabbage, winter brassicas, lettuce modules, herbs | Lettuce, radishes, spring onions, beetroot, carrots, chard, spinach, turnips | Leeks, kale, purple sprouting broccoli, cabbages | Early potatoes, peas, broad beans, lettuce, courgettes, beetroot, carrots |
| August | Spring cabbage, winter lettuce, oriental leaves | Spinach, chard, lettuce, radishes, spring onions, turnips, pak choi | Leeks, kale, cabbage, winter brassicas, late salads | Tomatoes, courgettes, beans, potatoes, beetroot, carrots, lettuce |
| September | Lettuce, oriental leaves, herbs, microgreens under cover | Winter salads, spinach, spring onions, overwintering onions, green manures | Spring cabbage, hardy salads, onion sets, garlic late in the month | Tomatoes, beans, courgettes, potatoes, carrots, beetroot |
| October | Microgreens, herbs, lettuce, oriental leaves under cover | Broad beans in mild areas, hardy peas, winter salads under cover | Garlic, autumn onion sets, shallots, spring cabbage, hardy salads | Pumpkins, squash, leeks, kale, carrots, maincrop potatoes |
| November | Microgreens, winter lettuce, herbs, early onions under cover | Broad beans in mild areas, hardy peas with protection | Garlic, autumn onion sets, shallots | Leeks, kale, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, winter cabbage |
| December | Microgreens, herbs, early onions, protected lettuce | Very little — broad beans only in mild, workable soil | Garlic and autumn onions if the soil isn't waterlogged | Kale, leeks, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, winter salads |
Read these as windows, not deadlines. A Cornish garden and an Aberdeenshire one can be six weeks apart. If you're in the south or on the coast, you can usually run a week or two early. In the north, Scotland, or anywhere high and exposed, hold tender crops back one to three weeks and keep fleece within reach. Hardy things — garlic, broad beans, winter brassicas — barely care. Regional guides →
Knowing when is half of it. Now decide where.
A calendar tells you March is for carrots. It doesn't tell you that last year's carrots were in that bed, or that the sweetcorn will shade them by July. That's what the free Garden Layout Planner is for — map your beds once and it handles rotation, spacing and companions around the dates on this page.
- Choose your space — six garden shapes, from a balcony to a full plot
- Pick your vegetables — 35 UK crops, with companion pairings built in
- Get your plan — a bed layout, rotation and matching sowing dates
Free to use. Nothing to install.
Explore by month
Pick a month to see exactly what to sow, plant out and pick — plus the jobs worth doing while you're down there.
When to plant — every crop
Sowing and planting windows for every vegetable we cover, one page per crop.
Looking up one crop in particular?
Every crop has two guides: when to plant it, and how to grow it from seed to harvest.
🍅 Fruiting crops
Tender, hungry, and worth the greenhouse space.
TomatoesCucumbersCourgettesSweetcorn🥕 Roots & tubers
It all comes down to how deep and how stone-free your soil is.
PotatoesCarrotsBeetrootTurnips🥬 Brassicas & greens
Net them, rotate them, and they'll feed you through winter.
CabbageKaleBroccoliLettuce🌱 Beans & peas
Easy from seed, and they leave the soil better than they found it.
Broad beansRunner beansPeasFrench beans🌿 Perennials & herbs
Plant once, harvest for years — outside the rotation entirely.
AsparagusRhubarbStrawberriesHerbsGetting more out of the same beds
Timing is the start. These are the decisions that quietly double what a plot produces.
When it doesn't go to plan
Something's chewed, yellowing or simply refusing to come up. Start with what you can see.
Your season, your postcode
Two gardeners can follow the same calendar and get very different results. Season guides cover the rhythm of the work; regional guides adjust the dates for where you actually garden.
Plan your best garden yet
This page is free and always will be. The printable planner is for gardeners who'd rather write it down — a paper system for the whole season.
- Monthly planting calendars
- Raised bed & plot layout sheets
- Crop rotation planner
- Seed inventory & harvest tracker
- Garden journal pages
Why gardeners use it
"I stopped guessing. I know what I'm sowing each weekend before I get to the plot, and I finally remember what I planted where last year."
— from a UK allotment holder, second season using the planner
Instant PDF download. Printable and reusable every season — print a fresh set each January.
The gardener's year: what to do each month
The calendar above tells you what to sow. This tells you what else the month asks for — the preparation, maintenance and tidying that decide how well those sowings actually do.
| Month | Main jobs beyond sowing |
|---|---|
| January | Plan before anything goes in the ground: sketch bed layouts, set your rotation groups and order seed while varieties are still in stock. Turn the compost heap, clean and sharpen tools, and check stored onions, garlic and potatoes for rot. Chit early potatoes towards the end of the month. |
| February | The first sowings of the year go under cover. Start chillies, aubergines and early tomatoes on a warm windowsill or heated propagator — they need the longest season of anything you grow. Warm outdoor beds with cloches or black plastic ahead of March, and prune autumn-fruiting raspberries. |
| March | Outdoor sowing begins in earnest as the soil warms. Get carrots, spinach, early peas and radishes into cold frames or under fleece. This is also the window for planting perennials — asparagus crowns and rhubarb sets establish best now. Weed early, before anything sets seed. |
| April | The busiest sowing month. Plant out potatoes and onion sets, and sow beetroot, courgettes, lettuce and salad leaves direct. Harden off anything started indoors over a week or two rather than moving it straight outside. Watch the forecast — April frosts still bite. |
| May | Warmer soil opens up direct sowing of tender crops: runner beans, French beans and sweetcorn go in once frost risk has passed for your area. Keep on top of weeding and watering while plants are small, and put supports in place before beans need them, not after. |
| June | Growth is fast and so are the pests. Mulch around young plants to hold moisture, net brassicas against cabbage white butterfly, and check regularly for slug damage. Start succession sowing salad leaves and radishes every two or three weeks for a steady supply instead of one glut. |
| July | Water management is the main job — deep, less frequent watering beats a daily sprinkle. Harvest new potatoes, broad beans, courgettes and early salads as they come, since picking regularly keeps plants producing. Feed tomatoes and pinch out side shoots on cordon varieties. |
| August | Peak harvest, and the last realistic window for autumn and winter sowings. Lift onions and garlic to dry, keep picking beans and courgettes, and sow spring cabbage, winter lettuce, spinach and turnips for crops that carry you past the summer. Collect seed from anything you want to grow again. |
| September | A transitional month. Clear spent summer crops before they collapse into a mess, plant over-wintering onion sets and garlic, and sow green manures on any bed you are not using. Bring the last tomatoes and chillies indoors to ripen if the weather turns. |
| October | Ground preparation takes over from sowing. Plant garlic and broad beans for an early start next year, spread compost or well-rotted manure over empty beds, and lift and store maincrop potatoes, carrots and beetroot. Gather fallen leaves into a separate heap for leaf mould. |
| November | Protect and tidy. Cover bare soil with mulch or cardboard to stop nutrients washing out over winter, firm in any autumn plantings loosened by wind, and check winter brassicas are properly staked. Wash and store pots, trays and cloches while you have the time. |
| December | The quietest month, and the right one for maintenance and review. Clean, oil and store tools, service the shed, and note what actually worked this year while it is still fresh. Grow herbs on a windowsill, force rhubarb, and start reading seed catalogues for next season. |
Questions we get asked a lot
What can I plant right now?
It's August, so: sow radishes, spinach, lettuce, spring onions and turnips outdoors; start spring cabbage and winter lettuce under cover; plant out leeks, kale and winter brassicas. The August guide has the full job list.
When is it safe to put tender crops outside?
Once the frost risk has genuinely passed — roughly mid-March to mid-April in mild southern and coastal gardens, mid-April to early May across most of England and Wales, and late May or later in the north, Scotland and exposed sites. A single late frost undoes months of work, so if you're unsure, wait a week.
What's the difference between sowing indoors and planting out?
Sowing indoors means starting seed in trays or modules somewhere warm and sheltered. Planting out means moving an established young plant into its final position outside. Most tender crops do both — indoors in spring, outside after the frosts.
Do I need a greenhouse?
No. A greenhouse helps with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and early seedlings, but most UK vegetables grow perfectly well outdoors. A sunny windowsill, a cold frame and a few cloches will get you most of the way.
I'm completely new — what should I start with?
Radishes, lettuce, courgettes, French beans and beetroot. They germinate readily, grow quickly and forgive a fair bit of neglect. Start with three or four, not fifteen. The growing guides walk through each one.
How do I turn this calendar into an actual plan?
Use the free Garden Layout Planner to map which crop goes in which bed, or the printable Garden Planner PDF if you'd rather work on paper.
Is there a free printable vegetable planting calendar I can download?
Yes. The chart on this page is built to print — use your browser's print option and choose landscape for the full-year table. If you want printable planning pages as well as the dates (bed layouts, crop rotation, seed inventory and a harvest tracker), the UK Vegetable Garden Planner PDF is the paid version of the same system.
Does this planting calendar work for an allotment?
It does. The sowing and harvest windows are the same whether you are growing on an allotment plot, in raised beds or in a back garden — what changes is scale and exposure. Allotment sites are often more open and a little colder than a sheltered garden, so if your plot is exposed, lean towards the later end of each window.
Can you grow vegetables all year round in the UK?
Yes, with the right crops. Kale, leeks, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, winter salads and chard all stand through a UK winter, and garlic and broad beans go in during autumn for an early start. The gap is usually the "hungry gap" in April and May, when winter crops are finishing and spring sowings are not ready — planning for it the previous autumn is what closes it.
How do I know when seedlings are ready to plant out?
Wait until they have at least two true leaves (the ones that appear after the first seed leaves) and feel sturdy rather than leggy — usually four to six weeks after sowing. Harden them off first by putting them outside for progressively longer over a week or two. Moving soft indoor seedlings straight into a cold bed checks their growth badly.
How do I know if last year's seed is still worth sowing?
Most vegetable seed keeps for two to three years in a cool, dry, dark place; parsnips and alliums are the notable exceptions and are best bought fresh each year. If you are unsure, test ten seeds on damp kitchen paper somewhere warm — if fewer than half germinate within a fortnight, sow thickly or replace the packet.
What should I do if it rains heavily just after sowing?
Heavy rain can wash small seed out of place or cap the soil surface so seedlings cannot push through. Once it has dried a little, break any crust gently with a rake or your fingers and re-sow bare patches. For fine seed sown in future, a light cover of fleece or a cloche during unsettled spells keeps the seedbed intact.