One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's possible to plant tomatos is to refer to the USDA zone info for Altoona.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant tomatos until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Altoona 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. Starting your tomatos indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Altoona the average date of last frost happens on April 15. 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 Altoona and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Altoona last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your tomatos in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Altoona

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 Altoona

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