One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 Modesto should be used to determine when it's a good idea to plant tomatos.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

Since tomatos do not do well in cold weather it is necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Modesto 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 fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your tomatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Modesto. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Modesto is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Modesto you get a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your tomatos if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Modesto

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 Modesto

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