Tomato planting months by climate zone
The chart shows when to sow seed or plant seedlings in each zone. It comes from the same data as the planting calendar. Tap a zone for its full calendar and the towns it covers.
| Zone | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | Sow or plant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tropical | yes | yes | yes | May–Jul | |||||||||
| Subtropical | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | All year |
| Arid and semi-arid | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | Aug–Mar | ||||
| Temperate | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | Aug–Dec | |||||||
| Cool | yes | yes | yes | yes | Sep–Dec | ||||||||
| NZ warm north | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | Sep–Jan | |||||||
| NZ temperate | yes | yes | yes | yes | Sep–Dec | ||||||||
| NZ cool south | yes | yes | yes | yes | Oct–Jan |
sow or plantnot recommendedthis month
The first month of each window is usually for sowing seed in trays under cover; seedlings go out once the frosts are over and the nights stay mild. When you pick your town in the planting calendar, it flags tomatoes in any month that still averages a frosty night or more there, using the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station.
The temperatures that matter
Tomatoes are frost-tender and stall in cold soil, so the calendar is really a proxy for temperature. Cornell University's growing guide gives the numbers:
| Stage | What it needs |
|---|---|
| Seed germination | 16–35 °C, best at 24–32 °C. A warm windowsill or a heat mat works; a cold greenhouse in early spring is too slow. |
| Raising seedlings | Sow 6–8 weeks before you plan to plant out. |
| Planting out | A week or two after the last frost, once nights stay consistently above about 7 °C. |
| Harvest | Early varieties take 65 days or less, mid-season ones 65–80 days and late ones 80 days or more. For tomatoes the days on a seed packet usually count from planting out, not from sowing. |
Tui, the New Zealand garden brand, puts the harvest at about 10–14 weeks after planting and the main picking season at December to March.
Melbourne Cup Day, and what the frost data says
The old rule in Victoria and Canberra is not to plant tomatoes before Melbourne Cup Day, the first Tuesday in November, for fear of a late frost. ABC News tested the rule for Canberra against Bureau of Meteorology records going back to 1940, counting any night at 2 °C or below as potentially frosty. The results:
- On average, the last potentially frosty morning came two days after Cup Day.
- In half of all years, Canberra had a potentially frosty night after the race.
- To be 80 % sure of avoiding frost you would wait 17 days after Cup Day, and to be 95 % sure, 43 days, well into December.
In Canberra, then, Cup Day is a coin toss rather than a safe date: plant around then with frost cloth or an upturned bucket handy for cold nights, or wait until mid-November. Inner Melbourne is a different case. Its old city weather station averaged about seven nights a year at 2 °C or below, all of them between June and August, so tomatoes can usually go in from October. The cool-zone window in the planting calendar runs from September, for seed in trays under cover, to December, and when you pick your town it flags tomatoes in months that still average a frosty night or more there.
Labour Weekend in New Zealand
New Zealand's equivalent is Labour Weekend, the long weekend that ends on Labour Day, the fourth Monday in October (26 October in 2026). Tui calls it the traditional planting time and notes that seedlings are in garden centres from August. It suits much of the North Island, and in the frost-free north Tui's region tool allows plantings from September. The south waits longer: NIWA's 1991–2020 averages show Christchurch still getting 5.6 ground frosts in October and 2.6 in November, and Queenstown 9.9 and 3.9, so plant there from late October with frost cloth ready, or in November. Start seed about a month before you plan to plant out.
Tomatoes in the tropics grow in winter
In Darwin, Cairns and Townsville the calendar flips. The wet season brings heat, humidity and disease, so tomatoes go in during the dry season, from May to July, and crop through the dry 'winter'. The subtropics sit in between: Annette McFarlane's Queensland calendars list every month, and Yates says tomatoes there do best in autumn and winter. Summer plantings have to battle heat, humidity, disease and fruit fly.
Seed or seedlings?
Punnet seedlings save six to eight weeks and avoid the need for warmth at germination, which is why most home gardeners buy them. Growing from seed gives a far wider choice of varieties, including heirlooms and short-season types for cool zones. If you sow, count back 6–8 weeks from your planting date. For a Canberra planting in mid-November that means sowing indoors in mid to late September.
Planting and spacing
- Spacing. Australian seed packets mostly say 50–60 cm for staked tomatoes. Cornell's guide allows 35–50 cm for staked tall (indeterminate) plants, 30–60 cm for bushy (determinate) ones and 60–90 cm if tall varieties sprawl unstaked. The plant spacing calculator turns a spacing into a plant count for your bed.
- Stakes first. Put the stake in at planting so you don't spear the roots later, and tie the stem loosely as it grows.
- Plant deep. Tomatoes grow roots along any buried stem, so set seedlings deeper than they sat in the punnet.
- Water evenly. Blossom end rot, the black patch at the base of the fruit, follows uneven watering: dry spells followed by a soaking. Mulch and water deeply and regularly.
Questions
When should I plant tomatoes in Melbourne?
From October in inner Melbourne, where frost is rare: the old city weather station averaged about seven frosty nights a year, all between June and August. In frostier outer suburbs and the hills, wait until early November. Sow seed indoors 6–8 weeks before you plan to plant out.
Is Melbourne Cup Day the right time to plant tomatoes?
In Canberra it is a coin toss: Bureau of Meteorology records since 1940 show a potentially frosty night after Cup Day in half of all years. Plant then with frost protection, or wait until mid-November for 80 % confidence. Warmer places, including most of Melbourne, can usually plant earlier.
When do you plant tomatoes in New Zealand?
Traditionally at Labour Weekend in late October, once the frost risk has passed. In Auckland and Northland Tui's region tool allows plantings from September. In Canterbury and Otago frosts continue into November, so plant from late October with frost protection, or wait until November.
Can you grow tomatoes in winter in Australia?
In the tropics and subtropics, yes. In Darwin and far north Queensland the dry season is the main tomato season, with planting from May to July, and in Brisbane autumn and winter plantings do best. Further south, winter is too cold for tomatoes outdoors.
Sources
- ABC News, Heaters on after Anzac Day and tomatoes in after Melbourne Cup? Frost data suggests Canberra folklore is wrong (July 2023), using Bureau of Meteorology records since 1940.
- Cornell University, Tomato growing guide – germination and transplant temperatures, seedling age, spacing, days to harvest, blossom end rot.
- Tui, Tomato growing guide – Labour Weekend, planting window and harvest time in New Zealand – and the Tui planting calendar region tool.
- Planting months by zone: the GardenMaths planting calendar, compiled from ABC Gardening Australia, the NT Government, the Diggers Club, Eden Seeds, Yates, the Canberra Organic Growers Society and Annette McFarlane, with the sources listed on each zone page.
- NIWA (now Earth Sciences New Zealand), Mean number of days of ground frost, 1991–2020 station averages; Employment New Zealand, public holiday dates.
- Bureau of Meteorology, What is frost? – why a night at 2 °C or below counts as a potential frost – and station climate statistics for Melbourne Regional Office (086071).
Last reviewed 23 September 2026 · Report an error