Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's the best time to plant tomatos in Zone 7a by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tomatos

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

Tomatos are not cold tolerant which means that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tomatos in Zone 7a 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tomatos may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your tomatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Zone 7a. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 7a may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 7a last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your tomatos in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 7a

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 Zone 7a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 7a.