One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 it's possible to plant tomatos is to check out the USDA zone info for Ballwin.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

You should not 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 Ballwin 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 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ballwin. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Ballwin is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ballwin last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your tomatos if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ballwin

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 Ballwin

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