Growing in Adelaide

Best time to plant tomato in Adelaide

Solanum lycopersicum

Sow tomato in Adelaide in Aug to Dec.

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 Adelaide

Adelaide, SA is in the temperate zone. Its months for tomato apply here without a frost adjustment.

Matches local guides.

Your local conditions can shift any months shown here, so treat them as a guide.

Frost in Adelaide

Frost usually arrives in Adelaide around mid July and finishes by late July. In about 1 year in 10 it comes as early as early June or as late as early August, 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.

Tomato elsewhere

Tomato across Australia