The eastern Borders are drier than the Atlantic west, with Charterhall giving the lowland reading.
There is a lot of high ground here too, and it is frosty. The Met Office's Eastern Scotland report puts air frost above 90 days a year on the tops. The upland figures use Eskdalemuir as the nearest analogue.
Frost dates for Borders
Half-month bands from named Met Office stations (1991-2020 averages). Lowland means coastal or under about 150m; upland is higher or inland.
| Garden | Last spring frost | First autumn frost | Safe to plant out | Season | Station | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| lowland | early May | late October | mid-to-late May | ~175 days | Charterhall | high |
| upland | mid-to-late May | late September | early June | ~130 days | Eskdalemuir (242m) | medium |
Upland: Nearest upland analogue. Met Office Eastern Scotland report corroborates the pattern: air frost exceeds 90 days/yr over the Lammermuir Hills against under 40 on the Fife coast.
Sources: Met Office · Met Office
What this means for growing here
Sow and plant out to these dates rather than a UK calendar, and remember they are regional averages. Your own plot can run two to four weeks later in a frost pocket, or earlier against a warm wall. If your garden is high or inland, use the upland row; if it is coastal or low, the lowland one.The Planting Calendar turns these into a month-by-month plan.
Sources
- Met Office: location-specific long-term averages: the 1991-2020 air-frost day counts behind every variant row, including the Inverness/Edinburgh comparison
- Derivation method: GrowScotland's own. We treat a month as carrying meaningful frost risk when it averages at least half an air-frost day, take the last such month in spring and the first in autumn, and express each as a half-month band.