The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to determine when it's possible to plant tomatos by referring to the USDA zone info for Wilmington.

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 you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Wilmington 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. Any later than that and your tomatos may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your tomatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Wilmington. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Wilmington is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Wilmington it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your tomatos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Wilmington

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 Wilmington

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