One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Derby you should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant tomatos.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

It's not a good idea to plant tomatos until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Derby 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tomatos may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your tomatos indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Derby the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Derby is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Derby you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your tomatos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Derby

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Derby

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