When to Plant Tomatos in Lorain, OH

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.

The first opportunity to plant tomatos in Lorain should be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

Tomatos do not do well in cold weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant tomatos
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant tomatos
Probably not a good time to plant tomatos

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Lorain. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Lorain is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Lorain you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your tomatos if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lorain

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 Lorain

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