One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

It's a good idea to figure out when it's a good idea to plant tomatos by looking at the USDA zone info for Lompoc.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

Tomatos are not cold tolerant which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Lompoc 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tomatos may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your tomatos indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Lompoc. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lompoc is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lompoc there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your tomatos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lompoc

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 Lompoc

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