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

The USDA zone info for Alton should be looked at to determine when it's possible to plant tomatos.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant tomatos until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Alton 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 grow to maturity. 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 Alton. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Alton is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Alton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your tomatos in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Alton

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