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.

The USDA zone info for Goleta should be looked at to determine when you can plant tomatos.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

You should not 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 Goleta 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. If you wait any later than that and your tomatos may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your tomatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Goleta. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Goleta is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Goleta you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your tomatos in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Goleta

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 Goleta

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