One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to determine when you can plant tomatos by reviewing the USDA zone info for Brookings.

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 you must wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Brookings is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant tomatos and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Brookings. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Brookings is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Brookings there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your tomatos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Brookings

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Brookings

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