Growing in Mount Gambier

Best time to plant tomato in Mount Gambier

Solanum lycopersicum

Sow tomato in Mount Gambier in Oct 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 Mount Gambier

Mount Gambier, SA is in the cool zone. The zone also plants in Sep, but Mount Gambier'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 Mount Gambier

Frost usually arrives in Mount Gambier around mid May and finishes by late October. In about 1 year in 10 it comes as early as mid April 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.

Tomato elsewhere

Tomato across Australia