Crop timing
When to plant courgettes outside in the UK
The short answer, on 27 October
Not this year. Courgettes are sown from April. If yours have finished, the bed can take something that stands winter.
Courgettes are frost tender and grow fast once the soil is warm. Start them indoors in April or early May and plant them out in early summer, or sow them straight outside in late May or early June.
The courgette year at a glance
From Vercro's crop catalogue, a national UK calendar in whole months. The underlined month is this one. Where you live moves these edges by a few weeks either way.
| Window | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sow indoorsApril to May | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: yes | May: yes | June: no | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| sow outsideMay to June | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: yes | June: yes | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| plant outMay to June | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: yes | June: yes | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| harvestJune to October | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: no | June: yes | July: yes | August: yes | September: yes | October: yes | November: no | December: no |
Growing time in the catalogue: 55 to 70 days from planting out, not from sowing. Family: Cucurbitaceae.
Your dates
Add your postcode for your area's usual frost dates, and what they mean for courgette.
Want every crop at once, or a greenhouse? Open the full sowing tool.
How late frosts run across the UK
Average days of air frost in April, May and June, 1996 to 2025, at Met Office stations from Cornwall to Fife.
| Station | Apr | May | Jun |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camborne87 m above sea level | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Heathrow25 m above sea level | 0.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Yeovilton20 m above sea level | 4.1 | 0.6 | 0 |
| Sutton Bonington48 m above sea level | 3.4 | 0.8 | 0 |
| Durham102 m above sea level | 3.3 | 0.8 | 0 |
| Leuchars10 m above sea level | 3.7 | 0.8 | 0 |
What changes the answer
Warm soil
The RHS plants out once the soil has warmed. A cold snap after planting checks growth for weeks.Indoors or outside
Indoor sowing in April gives the earliest fruit. Sowing outside in late May or early June is simpler and often catches up.Where you are
Frost ends earlier at the coast and in the south. See the table above and your own area below.This year’s spring
Averages hide the late frost that comes one year in two. Watch the forecast for the week after planting out.
Where the sources differ
Vercro's catalogue and published advice, side by side
Agree on indoor sowing (April to May) and planting out (May to June). Vercro's catalogue has no outdoor direct sowing for courgettes; the RHS allows sowing outside in late May or early June.
The catalogue counts a courgette's growing time from planting out, not from sowing, so Vercro doesn't date a harvest from the sowing day.
Common timing mistakes
Sowing too early indoors
A courgette sown in March outgrows its pot long before it can go out.Planting out into cold soil
Wait for the soil to warm. The plants will not grow until it does.Sowing outside in early May
The RHS sows outside from late May. Earlier seed sits in cold soil.Skipping hardening off
Plants raised indoors need a week or two of gradual time outside before they are planted out.
How Vercro handles this in a real garden
Vercro records each courgette planting on its bed with the date it went in. Today shows the few jobs that matter each morning, using your postcode's forecast and how far along the plants are.
Frequently asked questions
Keep going
Where this comes from
Crop windows, growing times and plant families come from Vercro's own curated crop catalogue, the same data the Vercro app uses. Where a published source says something different, we show both rather than choosing the convenient one. Reviewed 19 September 2026.
- Courgettes: grow your own, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Historic station data (monthly air frost days, 1996 to 2025), Met Office, Open Government Licence v3.0. Read 19 September 2026.
Know what your courgettes need today
Add where they are growing. Each morning Today shows the few jobs worth doing, with a reason, and says so when there are none.