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.

The first chance to plant tomatos in Albany can be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

Tomatos require warm weather which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Albany 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

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Albany. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Albany is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Albany it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your tomatos in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Albany

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Albany

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