When to Plant Tomatoes in Georgia: Spring and Late-Season Dates

What Georgia’s extension calendar says about tomatoes, copied region by region, plus the frost record at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, Macon Middle Ga Regional Airport, and Augusta Bush Field Airport.

By Paul Gunder · How we check our sources

Updated November 11, 2026

Figures checked against their sources on November 11, 2026; next check May 8, 2027.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension gives tomatoes their own row, with dates for 3 parts of the state. This calendar is coarser than most: Middle Georgia (April, with the other frost-tender crops), South Georgia (Spring planting dates as much as 2 to 3 weeks earlier), and North Georgia (Spring planting dates 1 to 3 weeks later, moving north through the mountain counties).

Tomatoes: the Georgia table

UGA’s February entry has gardeners sow seed boxes, saying tomatoes take 6 weeks from seed to transplant size.

In May the circular says to try a few tomato plants on stakes or trellises and to start removing suckers. In September and October it says to harvest mature green peppers and tomatoes before frost gets them.

Tomato planting dates in Georgia, as printed by University of Georgia Cooperative Extension (one row per part of the state, none averaged)
Part of the state	Spring planting	Late-season planting
Middle Georgia	April, with the other frost-tender crops	By July 20 to mature before frost
South Georgia	Spring planting dates as much as 2 to 3 weeks earlier	Fall planting dates as much as 2 weeks later
North Georgia	Spring planting dates 1 to 3 weeks later, moving north through the mountain counties	Fall planting dates about 2 weeks earlier

Reading the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension table

The University of Georgia’s vegetable garden calendar is a month-by-month list for middle Georgia, a belt across the state from Columbus through Macon to Augusta. The circular bases its recommendations on long-term average dates of the last killing frost in spring and the first killing frost in fall.

Starting tomatoes indoors

None of the figures in this section belong to Georgia. They are general: UNH, for one, puts the time from seed to transplant at 6 to 8 weeks.

For tomatoes the saved record holds six sources. Three of them (UNH, NDSU and Montana State) count from the last frost; the University of Minnesota, NC State and the University of Georgia describe their own climates. The shortest figure is 5 weeks and the longest 10, so no single number is right for every garden.

Once the seedlings are ready, UNH says tomatoes are safe to set out 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost, after hardening off.

Indoor start for tomatoes: what each saved source says (one row per source, none averaged)
Source	What it says
University of New Hampshire	6 to 8 weeks from seed to transplant; 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost is safe to set out
North Dakota State University	Sow 6 weeks before the last frost, transplant 2 weeks after it
Montana State University	6 to 10 weeks to transplant size; the planting window opens 1 week before the last frost
University of Minnesota	Early April in Minnesota, 5 to 6 weeks indoors
NC State	Any transplant: seed 6 to 8 weeks before setting out (central North Carolina calendar)
University of Georgia	6 weeks from seed to transplant size (middle Georgia calendar)

Typical frost dates at Georgia stations

Each date below is NOAA’s 50% level, meaning the last spring 32°F night lands on or after it in half the years, and the first fall night lands on or before it in half. The tool linked beside each city shows the other nine levels.

A station is tied to a region of the calendar only where the source’s own wording makes that call; the rest are left blank on purpose.

NOAA 1991-2020 normals for Georgia stations: 50% last spring and first fall 32°F dates
Station	Last spring 32°F	First fall 32°F	Region in Georgia’s calendar
Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, Georgia	March 15	November 20	Not stated by the source
Macon Middle Ga Regional Airport, Georgia	March 21	November 10	Middle Georgia
Augusta Bush Field Airport, Georgia	March 23	November 9	Middle Georgia
Columbus Metro Airport, Georgia	March 5	November 23	Middle Georgia
Savannah International Airport, Georgia	March 2	November 30	Not stated by the source

Worked example

NOAA’s normals for Macon Middle Ga Regional Airport, Georgia give March 21 as the even-odds date of the last spring 32°F night, and November 10 as the even-odds first fall one.

Middle Georgia is entered by month only (April), and the median last freeze, March 21, falls before the window opens.

On the fall side, Middle Georgia’s last planting date of July 20 leaves 113 days before the November 10 median first freeze.

None of this predicts next spring. It only lines up two published sets of dates; swap in your own station from the frost dates tool and the same steps apply.

Before you rely on these dates

The circular gives the last planting dates for fall crops, not a window, so the second column is a deadline.

Weather in the week of planting matters more than the printed date; use it to nudge the start earlier or later.

Sources (7)