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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant tomatos is to refer to the USDA zone info for Waverly.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

Tomatos do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Waverly 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 really do well. Starting your tomatos indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Waverly. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Waverly is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Waverly it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your tomatos in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Waverly

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Waverly

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