Best time to plant pumpkin in Melbourne
Cucurbita pepo
Also called Winter squash
Sow pumpkin in Melbourne in Oct to Dec.
Pumpkin is the everyday Australian name for hard-skinned squashes of the genus Cucurbita, called winter squash elsewhere. Types range from round grey or blue fruit to orange and tan ones, Queensland Blue among them. The thick shell protects sweet, dense flesh for storing, and the seeds can be eaten too.
When to sow in Melbourne
Melbourne, VIC is in the cool zone. Its months for pumpkin 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 Melbourne
Frost usually arrives in Melbourne around mid June and finishes by late August. In about 1 year in 10 it comes as early as late May or as late as late September, so frost-tender crops are planned around those dates.
From the average of its 2 Bureau of Meteorology stations, 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: needs a lot of room
Vines can run several metres. Train them back into your plot or up a strong frame.
Growing details
- How to start
- Sow directly or raise seedlings
- Sowing depth
- 2.5cm
- Plant spacing
- 90cm
- Row spacing
- 185cm
- Germination
- About 12 days
- Time to harvest
- 100 days
- Frost
- Frost tender
- Sun
- Full sun
- Life cycle
- annual
These are typical figures, and varieties differ. Your seed packet takes priority.