Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when to plant tomatos is to look at the USDA zone info for Nashville.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

Since tomatos require warm weather you must wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Nashville 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. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tomatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Nashville may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Nashville last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your tomatos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Nashville

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 Nashville

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