Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant tomatos is to look at the USDA zone info for College Place.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

It's not a good 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 College Place 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tomatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in College Place. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for College Place is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in College Place last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your tomatos in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for College Place

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

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

Plants to Grow in College Place

You may be interested in your other planting guides for College Place.