I'm not from your area, but this formula works well anywhere. Find your last average last frost date and to be safe get a ten day forecast beyond that doesn't show the chance of frost. That's about as safe as you can get. Here, south of Memphis, I use April 17 and get a good ten day forecast before I plant. I started planting today.

Hope this helps.

Don

To plant or not to plant? That is the question!

I live in Oklahoma.

Here the spring weather is often very erratic. A cold snap or deep freeze can move down into the state out of the Rockies or the Arctic quite suddenly and ruin everything.
Then some years the weather is mild and calm. I can plant around April 1st and all is just dandy. Most often I wait until after April 15th.
Generally, as soon as the tomato 'volunteers' come up in the garden, I can figure it's okay to plant my hothouse-grown tomatoes that have been hardening off in the cold frame. But I have planted out my cold frame tomatoes some years and lost them all while the volunteers made it through the cold spell, even without any mulch or covers. Go figure!
So, it's just roll the dice for me where I live or have some kind of tomato tents or cloches and be prepared to use them at a moments notice.
And then just when the cold weather has finally ended, here comes our tornado season in May with severe and damaging winds and golf ball to softball sized hail. Ssswell!

~ sweetannie4u

Over here in RI we usually wait 'till Memorial Day just to be sure. Remember, frost dates are based on an average and every now and then one will sneak in and wreak all kinds of havoc. It's tough to wait that long but it's good insurance. The big box stores have all kinds of plants set out that'll perish in a frost, including tomatoes. Just walk on by. Resist or repent. Besides that, if you grow from seed you can get some really interesting varieties and plant when you want, what you want, and not what they want to sell you. Best of luck.

I'm upstate. I usually don't plant out my tomatoes until Memorial Day weekend (we've had frosts Memorial Day weekend.) You could plant out a couple weeks earlier (early to mid-May.)

Hi, I'm in Rockland Cty. I have about 300 plants that I started from seed. I have been hardening them off for the last several days and they are doing great! Under the tree during the day and under the porch at nite. No signs of wilting, sunscald, or windburn! It's my winter hobby to keep me busy until the weather breaks! With the temps in the low 80's the last two days, I just couldn't resist putting four of my "extras" in the garden where I would normally plant them. If they don't make it, oh well, I have the backups. I usually wait until May 10th and have never had a problem with that date. If I hear of a frost warning, I put 5 gallon pails over the plants until the next morning. Who knows, it might be a "different" year and they might do great and I will have tomatoes real early! It kills me to see my wife buying them in the grocery store. I learn from trying... Paul

the way the weather is going out west it will be in August.

I plant out when the Extension sErvice reports a inimum 4 inch deep bare soil temp of 60 degrees. We have an internet site in Illinois from the university that reports it.

I am in southern CT zone 6b here, and I am just about in the same boat with rocklandguy. My plants are nestled into trays inside a coldframe setup on my slate patio. I ventilate during the daytime to prevent excessive heat buildup and to allow some gentle breezes onto the plants, and I close it up overnight. It has been deceivingly warm here this past week or so, and like rockland guy I am tempted to sneak an "experiment" plant or two into the tomato beds just to see if it will make it to May 10 or 11 when I usually plant. When you have extra plants you may as well! I would say mine are pretty decently hardened off now due to having been incubated on my unheated porch etc. Nighttime temps are in the 40s reliably now, so I think we are in good shape unless we get snow or a freeze, which could happen. I would say we all have our fingers on the trigger here in zone 6, just waiting for the moment but being cautious at the same time.

I'm in the very S.E. corner of Westchester - I think the safe date is the week after Memorial Day, but you could go Memorial Day if the forecast looks good. I think I just killed some extra eggplant seedlings that I set out as an "experiment" (which means I was sick of taking care of them). I'll hold off with toms as above, keeping them in a mini greenhouse and bringing them in when it gets cold. I did, however, put a Polefast (Polfast?) tomato in a SWC on the patio as an expirement - they are very early tomatoes that are supposedly tolerant of cool temperatures.

Do people really garden in Westchester? The Hudson Valley forum here is a wasteland.
Mark

Sorry, what I really meant to say above was the week after Mother's Day, not Memorial Day. Memorial Day is May 26 - that's just pointlessly late, at least down in this corner of the county.

Mother's Day is May 11, which is closer to reasonable.

alot of the underinformed or indifferent gardeners here plant everything after May Long Weekend, the third weekend of May. Even spinach and radishes and other cool crops. Last year my carrots were up before anybody else in the complex planted in their plot. (and carrots are slooooowww)

i usually plant mine by mid April. but i got a late start onthe seeds this year and they are jsut now going outside. usually i will buy a few plants to stick inthe ground and start the rest, but this year it was 100% from seed. i do think mine will be going in ground this weekend, been inthe 80's lately so the soil is ready.

I planted mine already. I did it on Thursday the 17th. i know i'm crazy. i have tons of extras. wish me luck

here in nc they say to be safe wait til 1st of may but i harden my pants off early this year and planted alot of things yesterday.. we did have a cold snap and i had 20 plants in buckets out side so they came in about a week and a half ago. They came into my kitchen for a few days and now are in the ground.

its will depend on which zone you live in ,but as a rule of thumb spring is the best time

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato gardening tips