Best time to plant tomato in Canberra
Solanum lycopersicum
Sow tomato in Canberra in Nov.
Eaten as a vegetable but botanically a berry, the tomato is the fruit of a frost-tender, mostly annual vine in the nightshade family. Thousands of cultivars differ in shape, size, colour and taste, and the savoury umami flavour makes it a key ingredient in sauces, soups and salads.
When to sow in Canberra
Canberra, ACT is in the cool zone. The zone also plants in Sep to Oct, Dec, but Canberra's frost dates make those months risky for a frost-tender crop.
Matches local guides.
Your local conditions can shift any months shown here, so treat them as a guide.
Frost in Canberra
Frost usually arrives in Canberra around early April and finishes by early November. In about 1 year in 10 it comes as early as mid March or as late as late November, so frost-tender crops are planned around those dates.
From its Bureau of Meteorology station, 1991 to 2020, counting a night at 2°C or lower as a frost. Frost hollows and hillsides can shift these dates by weeks, so ask the growers at your garden too.
On a shared plot: suits a plot
Finishes in a season and stays within its space, so it suits most plots.
Growing details
- How to start
- Raise seedlings, then transplant
- Sowing depth
- 5mm
- Plant spacing
- 45cm
- Row spacing
- 45cm
- Germination
- 4-10 days at 20-30°C
- Time to harvest
- 65 days
- Frost
- Frost tender
- Sun
- Full sun
- Life cycle
- annual
These are typical figures, and varieties differ. Your seed packet takes priority.