One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 New Haven you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant tomatos by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

You can not plant tomatos until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The last month that you can plant tomatos and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tomatos may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your tomatos indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in New Haven. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for New Haven is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in New Haven last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your tomatos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for New Haven

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in New Haven

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Haven.