One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

You should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant tomatos by using the USDA zone info for Watchung.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

Since tomatos are not cold tolerant it is necessary to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Watchung 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. 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

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Watchung 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 Watchung last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your tomatos if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Watchung

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 Watchung

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