One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

It's possible to figure out when it's a good idea to plant tomatos by referring to the USDA zone info for New Castle.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant tomatos until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in New Castle 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. 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 all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in New Castle. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for New Castle and it is different every year. Since half of the time in New Castle there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your tomatos in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for New Castle

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 New Castle

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Castle.