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 first opportunity to plant tomatos in Brandon should be determined by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

It's a bad idea to plant tomatos until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Brandon 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your tomatos indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Brandon. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Brandon and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Brandon last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your tomatos if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Brandon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Brandon

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