When to Plant Tomatos in Northampton, PA

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

One way of determining when it's possible to plant tomatos is to look at the USDA zone info for Northampton.


Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

Tomatos require warm weather which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost 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 Northampton 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. Any later than that and your tomatos may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your tomatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Northampton. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Northampton and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Northampton you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your tomatos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Northampton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

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

Plants to Grow in Northampton

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