One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Scottsdale you can determine when it's a good idea to plant tomatos by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

Frost tolerance for tomatos:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You really shouldn't plant tomatos until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Scottsdale is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant tomatos and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your tomatos may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your tomatos indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Scottsdale. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Scottsdale is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Scottsdale there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your tomatos if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Scottsdale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Scottsdale

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Scottsdale.