When to Plant Tomatoes in South Carolina: Spring and Fall Dates, Coastal and Piedmont
Clemson Cooperative Extension’s own tomatoes dates for South Carolina, row by row and never averaged, beside NOAA frost dates for Charleston International Airport, Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, and Greenville Downtown Airport.
Updated
Figures checked against their sources on ; next check .
Clemson Cooperative Extension gives tomatoes their own row under the heading “Tomato”, with dates for 2 regions. Across the rows, the first date to appear is March 1 (Coastal) and the last is May 1 (Piedmont), 61 days apart. The row carries Clemson’s footnote “From Transplants”, so these dates are for transplants.
South Carolina’s dates, row by row
In Clemson’s spacing table the same crop is listed at 70-80 days to harvest, 60 x 24 inches between rows and plants.
| Region | Spring planting | Fall planting |
|---|---|---|
| Coastal | Mar 1 to Apr 30 | July 1 to Jul 31 |
| Piedmont | May 1 to Jun 30 | Not recommended |
Reading the Clemson Cooperative Extension table
Clemson’s planting chart has one pair of columns for the Coastal region and one for the Piedmont, each with a spring range and a fall range. The chart’s own heading says Coastal while the county list says Coastal Plain, and this page uses the chart’s wording in its tables.
Where a cell reads “Not recommended”, the source gives no planting window for that season, and this page leaves it that way.
Starting tomatoes indoors
Seed-starting advice for tomatoes comes from other states’ extension services, and it counts weeks rather than dates. UNH allows 6 to 8 weeks from seed to transplant.
Tomatoes are the best-covered crop, with six saved 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.
| 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 South Carolina stations
The 50% date is the even-odds one: in half of the years the last spring 32°F night comes on or after it, and the first fall one on or before it. Each station below links to the frost dates tool.
The last column maps a station to a region only where Clemson Cooperative Extension or its county list settles it.
| Station | Last spring 32°F | First fall 32°F | Region in South Carolina’s calendar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charleston International Airport, South Carolina | March 7 | November 27 | Coastal |
| Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, South Carolina | March 13 | November 19 | Coastal |
| Greenville Downtown Airport, South Carolina | March 16 | November 20 | Piedmont |
| Florence Regional Airport, South Carolina | March 19 | November 13 | Coastal |
| Rock Hill York County Airport, South Carolina | March 31 | November 4 | Piedmont |
Worked example
NOAA’s normals for Charleston International Airport, South Carolina give March 7 as the even-odds date of the last spring 32°F night, and November 27 as the even-odds first fall one.
Set the frost date against Coastal: the window opens March 1, 6 days before it, and shuts April 30, 54 days after it.
On the fall side, Coastal’s last planting date of July 31 leaves 119 days before the November 27 median first freeze.
Do the same subtraction for your own town: choose its nearest station in the frost dates tool, take the 50% dates, and compare them with the row for your part of South Carolina.
Before you rely on these dates
The factsheet was last revised in February 2021.
Soil that is cold or soaked can hold a crop back even inside the printed window, so check the ground as well as the calendar.
Sources (8)
- Clemson Cooperative Extension Home & Garden Information Center (Millie Davenport), Planning a Garden, HGIC 1256, revised February 12, 2021 hgic.clemson.edu
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, annual and seasonal normals (frost/freeze probabilities by station) ncei.noaa.gov
- University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, Growing Vegetables: When to Plant Your Vegetable Garden (fact sheet) extension.unh.edu
- NDSU Extension Service (North Dakota State University), Time and Temperature Chart, from How to Succeed at Seed Starting, publication h1139, print code 2M-2-99 library.nd.gov
- Montana State University Extension (Amy Grandpre), Can I Grow That Here? Vegetable Seed and Transplant Schedules for Garden or Container, MontGuide MT199308AG, revised November 2018 extension-store.montana.edu
- University of Minnesota Extension, Starting seeds indoors (page reviewed 2026) extension.umn.edu
- NC State Extension (Bradley, Gunter, Sherk and Driscoll), Central North Carolina Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs, AG-756-01, published July 8, 2016 content.ces.ncsu.edu
- University of Georgia Cooperative Extension (Bob Westerfield), Vegetable Garden Calendar, Circular 943, published with full review March 10, 2026 extension.uga.edu