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.

By using the USDA zone info for Sparks you should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant tomatos.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

Tomatos are not cold tolerant which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Sparks 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. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tomatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Sparks. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sparks may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Sparks last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your tomatos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sparks

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Sparks

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