[Sue32]

Is there an official / accepted time for the seasons? 

I know the seasons vary due to climate / where you live, but I've got a gardening book which says what to do when - except the when is 'early spring' or 'mid spring' or late spring ......        Each season has 3 sub-sections so they may as well have given it by month.  I don't want an exact date but an indication of which month it is would have helped.

[arugula]

From the solstice and equinox dates..... very roughly Winter is Jan, Feb, Mar. Spring is Apr, May, jun. Summer, Jul, Aug, Sep and Autumn Oct, Nov, Dec.

[Paul Plots]

From the solstice and equinox dates..... very roughly Winter is Jan, Feb, Mar. Spring is Apr, May, jun. Summer, Jul, Aug, Sep and Autumn Oct, Nov, Dec.

Quite so! 

Try here: The Old Farmer's Almanac but it's as much to do with the weather patterns in a particular area as it is to do with the date. 

[DD.]

From the solstice and equinox dates..... very roughly Winter is Jan, Feb, Mar. Spring is Apr, May, jun. Summer, Jul, Aug, Sep and Autumn Oct, Nov, Dec.

Summer is surely "those two nice days in June".

[martywolfman]

Summer is surely "those two nice days in June".

2 days? you must live in the tropics!

I'm glad somebody else asked this question, because i was wondering too. Most of the seeds i hav ebought have month guides, but some have similar things - early spring, late spring etc. I would have called march spring, before seeing this topic

[arugula]

I'm a great deal further North than you are Marty and I would consider March (at least in my head) to be Spring, if perhaps quite early. That's why I said "very roughly". I mean who would have wanted to get married in the Winter?

[joyfull]

well as I got married in early March I assume that would be me 

[mumofstig]

From the solstice and equinox dates..... very roughly Winter is Jan, Feb, Mar. Spring is Apr, May, jun. Summer, Jul, Aug, Sep and Autumn Oct, Nov, Dec.

I thought that each equinox came in the middle of it's season...eg the summer equinox is mid- summer's day,  winter equinox is mid-winter's day etc.

Joy Larkcom's book GYO veg says that Early Winter is December, mid-winter is January, and late winter is February etc.

[Kleftiwallah]

I think Alan Titchmarsh said on one of the British Natural History programmes that the change in the seasons travel north at a steady walking pace.   Cheers,   Tony.

[arugula]

well as I got married in early March I assume that would be me 

Mid-March here!

[strangerachael]

I would agree with Joy Larkcom, although if you live in Argyll then Argyllie is probably right!

[yorky]

December..................Early Winter
January.....................Winter
Febuary.....................Late Winter
March........................Early Spring
April..........................Spring
May...........................Late Spring
June..........................Early Summer
July............................Summer
August.......................Late Summer
September.................Early Autumn
October......................Autumn
November...................Late Autumn

[Kristen]

Is there a variation on this for "Down South" and "Up North"?

In USA they seem to put more in store by "Weeks before last frost" rather than "Spring" etc. I know the way our climate works is rather different, but I wonder if that might be a more usable metric?

[yorky]

Is there a variation on this for "Down South" and "Up North"?

In USA hey seem to put more in store by "Weeks before last frost" rather than "Spring" etc. I know the way our climate works is rather different, but I wonder if that might be a more usable metric?

I took the list from an old gardening book and it seemed to apply to the whole of Gt Britain.
It would'nt work in the USA because that is a much bigger country with a bigger variation of climate from North to South.

[Kristen]

It would'nt work in the USA because that is a much bigger country with a bigger variation of climate from North to South.

Indeed ... but I'd like to have a feel for how I should adjust any advice I give for people living in Scotland (or Cornwall, for that matter). I reckon that "Spring" on the back of a seed packet is designed to muddy the date .. or to instruct only "experienced" gardeners who know what that means, for their garden - which I don't see as being much help to newbies.

Hence I wonder if we couldn't put more credence in "weeks-before-last-frost" as a basis for when to sow, rather than "Spring" or "March"