Sowing Calendar 2026: Month by Month to a Full Harvest

Your Roadmap for a Successful Gardening Year

The right timing determines success or failure in vegetable growing. Sown too early, the seedlings freeze; sown too late, you miss the optimal growth phase. This calendar gives you concrete recommendations for every month.

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🥶 January: Planning and Preparation

Outdoors: Still too cold for sowing (exception: winter purslane in the cold frame)

Indoors / At the desk:

• Sort through and order seeds
• Create a bed plan (ideal: with PermaNatura)
• Turn the compost
• Service and sharpen garden tools

Tip: Order seeds early - popular varieties often sell out quickly!

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❄️ February: Pre-Cultivation Begins

On the windowsill (from mid-February):

• 🌶️ Peppers and chili (need a long pre-cultivation time!)
• 🍆 Eggplant
• 🌿 Celery

In the cold frame / greenhouse:

• Sow more lamb's lettuce
• First radishes under fleece

Temperatures: Mind the germination temperature! Peppers need 22-25 °C.

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🌱 March: The Start on the Windowsill

Pre-cultivation indoors:

• 🍅 Tomatoes (from mid-March)
• 🥒 Cucumbers (end of March)
• 🥬 Kohlrabi, cauliflower, broccoli
• 🌻 Sunflowers
• 🌿 Basil, parsley

Direct sowing outdoors (from mid-March, depending on the region):

• Carrots (early varieties)
• Spinach
• Peas
• Onions (sets)
• Radishes

Important: Wait for the Ice Saints (mid-May) before frost-sensitive plants go outside!

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🌸 April: Peak Season for Sowing

Pre-cultivation:

• Zucchini and squash (from mid-April)
• Corn
• Beans (pre-sprouting in a moist cloth)

Direct sowing outdoors:

• Chard
• Beetroot
• Cut-and-come-again lettuce (resow every 2 weeks!)
• Dill, coriander
• Plant potatoes (from a soil temperature of 8 °C)

In the garden:

• Spread compost on the beds
• Renew the mulch layer
• Set up slug barriers

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🌿 May: Out into the Open!

After the Ice Saints (from May 15):

• Plant out all pre-grown plants
• Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini into the bed
• Basil outdoors

Direct sowing:

• Bush beans and pole beans
• Corn (Three Sisters method!)
• Squash directly into the bed
• Sunflowers
• Nasturtium (edible + aphid trap)

Care:

• Tie up tomatoes and remove the first side shoots
• Hoe regularly against weeds
• In dry weather, water in the morning

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☀️ June: Resowing and Care

Resowing for a continuous harvest:

• Bush beans (2nd batch)
• Lettuce every 2 weeks
• Radishes
• Carrots (storage varieties)

First harvests:

• Strawberries 🍓
• Radishes
• Lettuce and kohlrabi
• Harvest herbs regularly (promotes growth)

Care priorities:

• Tomatoes: remove side shoots weekly
• Mulch against evaporation
• Check for aphids → spray nettle slurry

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🌻 July: Harvesting and Resowing

Harvest in full swing:

• Zucchini, cucumbers, beans
• Tomatoes (first outdoor tomatoes)
• Carrots, onions
• Berries (raspberries, currants)

Resowing for autumn:

• Plant kale
• Sow Chinese cabbage
• Fennel
• Bush beans (last batch)

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🌾 August: Autumn Preparation

Sowing for the autumn/winter harvest:

• Lamb's lettuce (most important winter salad!)
• Spinach
• Radishes (autumn varieties)
• Pak choi and Asian salads
• Winter purslane

Harvest:

• Potatoes (storage varieties)
• Onions for drying
• Tomatoes in abundance → preserve them!
• Dry herbs for the winter

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🍂 September: Last Sowings

Still possible:

• Winter purslane
• Lamb's lettuce (last date)
• Plant garlic (for next year's harvest!)
• Sow green manure (phacelia, mustard, clover)

Harvest:

• Squash and zucchini (before the first frost)
• Apples and pears
• Walnuts
• Last tomatoes (let the green ones ripen)

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🍁 October: Preparing for Winter

Make the garden winter-ready:

• Clear the beds and mulch
• Collect leaves → compost or hedgehog shelter
• Top up raised beds with compost
• Empty rain barrels (frost protection)

Still to harvest:

• Kale (gets sweeter after frost!)
• Lamb's lettuce and winter purslane
• Brussels sprouts
• Root vegetables (parsnips, Jerusalem artichoke)

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🥶 November: Letting Things Rest

Last tasks:

• Prune fruit trees (on frost-free days)
• Clean and oil tools
• Repair the garden fence and paths
• Seed inventory for next year

Still to harvest:

• Kale, Brussels sprouts
• Lamb's lettuce under fleece
• Jerusalem artichoke (continuously, throughout the winter)

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❄️ December: Reflection and Anticipation

At the desk:

• Evaluate the gardening year: What worked well?
• Compare harvest quantities in PermaNatura
• Study seed catalogs
• Plan next year!

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Mind the Regional Differences

The dates in this calendar apply to temperate locations in Central Europe (USDA zone 7-8). Adapt them to your region:

Region	Adjustment
North German Lowland	Start 1-2 weeks later
Southern Germany / Alpine Foreland	2-3 weeks later, but more intense summers
Wine-growing climate (Rhine, Moselle)	Often possible 1 week earlier
Austria / Switzerland	Varies greatly depending on altitude
Urban gardens	Heat-island effect: often 1 week earlier

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Sowing Planning in PermaNatura

The PermaNatura seasonal calendar automatically shows you which plants can now be sown, pre-grown, or planted - based on your location and the current weather. The AI advice additionally gives personalized recommendations for your specific beds.

Pro tip: Resow lettuce, radishes, and herbs every 2-3 weeks. That way you harvest fresh all summer long instead of having everything at once!

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Sources: Bayerische Gartenakademie, DWD Agrarwetter, Demeter Aussaatkalender 2026

A sowing-calendar app: everything tracked automatically

Instead of looking up every date by hand, let the free sowing and season calendar from PermaNatura do it: for every crop in your bed it shows the right sowing, planting and harvest windows – matched to your plants and location, right next to the bed planner with companion-planting analysis.

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