The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. 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 the best time to plant tomatos is to refer to the USDA zone info for Dowagiac.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

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

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Dowagiac. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Dowagiac is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Dowagiac last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your tomatos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Dowagiac

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Dowagiac

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