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    Garden Planner

    🇬🇧 United Kingdom version

    UK growers work inside a frost-free window: frost returns in earnest from November, and the last air frost is usually before the end of April in the south and near the coast but runs into May further north. This planner lists 31 vegetables and herbs to sow or harvest in the month you pick, with beds sized in centimetres.

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    Garden Planner

    What to sow and harvest this month, how many plants a bed will actually hold at proper spacing, and which combinations to keep apart. 31 vegetables and herbs.

    Sow indoors
    1

    Onion

    Sow outdoors
    0

    Too cold, or too late, to direct-sow this month.

    Harvest
    4

    ParsnipKaleBrussels sproutLeek

    Growing in United Kingdom
    January: Winter

    Frost returns in earnest from November. In the south and near the coast the last air frost is usually before the end of April; further north and on high ground it runs into May.

    Frost-tender crops are grown outdoors only between the last and first frosts.

    Source: Met Office: Why frost can still occur in late spring

    Your frost dates

    193 days

    Frost dates are the single most important local fact in a vegetable garden, and they vary enormously over short distances — a valley bottom can be several weeks behind a slope a kilometre away. Look yours up once from a local source and everything else follows from them.

    31 plants
    Bed capacity at real spacing
    Saved on this device

    United Kingdom rules and figures

    • In the south and near the coast, the last air frost in the UK is usually before the end of April; further north and on high ground it runs into May.
    • Frost returns in earnest from November, which marks the end of the outdoor season for tender plants.
    • UK frost-tender crops are grown outdoors only in the gap between the last frost and the first.
    • The Met Office seasons are whole months: March to May is Spring, June to August is Summer, September to November is Autumn and December to February is Winter.

    Sources: Met Office: Why frost can still occur in late spring (checked 2026-11-08); Met Office: When does autumn start? (checked 2026-11-08)

    How the Garden Planner works

    The sowing and harvest months in the table are written for a temperate northern climate, so the UK reads them as stored, with no shift. Beds are in centimetres, and a plant count is a rounded-down grid of the bed's length and width at each plant's spacing.

    plants per bed = ⌊bed length ÷ plant spacing⌋ × ⌊bed width ÷ row spacing⌋ (both in cm)

    • The Southern hemisphere switch stays off for the UK. The Growing in United Kingdom card shows the Met Office season for the month you chose, such as Autumn for November, with the frost notes beneath it.
    • The starting bed is 300 × 120 cm with tomato and basil. Each plant takes an equal share of the length, so it counts 3 tomato plants and 24 basil, not 6 and 48.
    • Frost dates start at 04-15 and 10-25, which make a 193-day season. Replace them with dates for your own garden, since the last air frost can fall in April in the south and in May further north.
    • A bed shows a warning when one plant's avoid list names another, such as tomato with potato. Beds, units and any frost dates you edit are kept in this browser.

    How to use the Garden Planner

    1. Choose the month. The Month box opens on the current month. Leave Southern hemisphere off, because the UK is in the north.
    2. Read the three lists. The first tab shows plants to sow under cover, sow outdoors and harvest, with a snowflake beside frost-tender ones.
    3. Enter your frost dates. Type the last spring frost and first autumn frost for your garden as month and day. The season length and any marginal crops appear below.
    4. Size a bed. Open Beds, enter the bed's length and width in centimetres, choose a plant, and read how many fit.
    5. Browse the plants. Search by name or family, then export the whole calendar as a CSV file.

    Example: November in the UK on a 300 × 120 cm bed

    Choosing November shows Autumn on the Growing in United Kingdom card. Nothing is listed to sow indoors, broad bean and garlic go outdoors, and eight plants are ready to harvest: parsnip, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprout, leek, spinach, chard and rocket. The starter bed of tomato and basil counts 3 tomato and 24 basil plants. Courgette alone fits 3, and pumpkin or squash needs 120 cm between plants, so it fits 0 and reads bed too small.

    When to use the Garden Planner

    • Starting seeds in March. Set the month to March and read the long indoor list, from tomato and chilli to leek, lettuce and basil.
    • Fitting a raised bed. Enter a bed of 240 × 90 cm and compare how many carrots, kale or potatoes it holds before buying plants.
    • Testing a late frost date. Type a last frost in May for a northern or high-ground plot and see how the season length and warnings change.
    • Planning the winter harvest. Pick December to see parsnip, kale, Brussels sprout and leek, then work back to when they had to go in.

    What the Garden Planner does not do

    • One calendar covers the whole country. The Met Office notes the last air frost can run into May in the north, so sow later there than the months suggest.
    • Frost dates change only the season length and the marginal-crop warning. They never move a sowing month.
    • Only the 31 listed plants exist, with fixed spacing, and you cannot add varieties of your own.
    • Companion and avoid lists are traditional advice with patchy evidence, apart from the tomato and potato blight link.

    When something else is a better fit

    • When you want the Met Office's own explanation of late frost, use the Met Office pages on frost in spring.
    • When you want house and car jobs alongside garden ones, use the Seasonal Checklist.
    • When you need to convert a bed size from feet to metres, use the Unit Converter.

    Questions about the Garden Planner

    Do I need the Southern hemisphere switch in the UK?

    No. It stays off, because the stored months are written for a northern climate. Turning it on shifts every month by six and would make a UK calendar half a year wrong.

    Which frost dates should I type?

    Your own. The planner starts with 04-15 and 10-25, giving 193 days. The Met Office says the last air frost is usually before the end of April in the south and runs into May further north.

    Why does pumpkin say bed too small in a 120 cm wide bed?

    Pumpkin or squash needs 150 cm between rows, and a 120 cm width has no room for a row, so the grid count is zero and the bed reads too small.

    What does the Growing in United Kingdom card show?

    It shows the Met Office season for the chosen month, plus the frost notes for the UK and the source behind them. In November the badge reads Autumn.

    Are my beds saved?

    Yes, in this browser's local storage. A removed bed goes to Recently deleted, and nothing syncs to another device.