When to Plant Tomatoes in Virginia: Spring and Fall Dates by Zone
Planting dates for tomatoes from Virginia Cooperative Extension in Virginia, with 50% frost dates from NOAA for Roanoke Regional Airport, Charlottesville Airport, and Richmond International Airport and one worked case.
Updated
Figures checked against their sources on ; next check .
Open Virginia Cooperative Extension’s calendar to the tomato line and you find 6 zones, each with its own spring and fall entries. Zone 6b starts latest, on May 10, while Zone 8b starts on April 1: 39 days between the two. The footnote on this row reads “Planting dates for transplants.”
The tomato windows by zone
Table 5 of the same guide puts tomatoes at 2-4 plants per person, with 2 plantings in spring and summer and none in fall.
| Zone | Spring planting | Fall planting |
|---|---|---|
| Zone 6a | May 10-June 10 | June 10-July 10 |
| Zone 6b | May 10-June 10 | June 10-July 10 |
| Zone 7a | April 20-June 20 | June 20-Aug 1 |
| Zone 7b | April 10-June 20 | June 20-Aug 1 |
| Zone 8a | April 10-July 1 | July 1-Aug 10 |
| Zone 8b | April 1-July 1 | July 1-Aug 10 |
What to know about this source
The guide says row cover fabric and cold frames may extend the expected planting and harvest window by two to four weeks in spring and in fall. For frost dates by county it points readers to the Midwestern Regional Climate Center’s freeze date tool.
Starting tomatoes indoors
If you raise your own transplants, count backward from the set-out date. UNH’s fact sheet allows 6 to 8 weeks for that stage, and the table lists what the others say.
Six saved sources speak to tomatoes. 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 Virginia 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 source leaves it to the reader to place a city among its zones, and this table does not make that call.
| Station | Last spring 32°F | First fall 32°F | Region in the calendar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roanoke Regional Airport, Virginia | April 3 | November 1 | Not stated by the source |
| Charlottesville Airport, Virginia | April 3 | November 1 | Not stated by the source |
| Richmond International Airport, Virginia | April 3 | November 4 | Not stated by the source |
| Norfolk International Airport, Virginia | March 17 | November 23 | Not stated by the source |
| Washington DC Dulles Airport, Virginia | April 15 | October 24 | Not stated by the source |
Worked example
Start from Roanoke Regional Airport: the station’s median last spring freeze is April 3, and its median first fall freeze is November 1.
The calendar does not say which zone Roanoke Regional Airport belongs to, so set the date against the rows at each end. Zone 8b opens April 1, 2 days before that date; Zone 6b opens May 10, 37 days after it.
The offsets will shift by a few days with every revision of the normals, so use them as a rough guide to which row to trust and not as a deadline.
Before you rely on these dates
The guide says actual last and first killing frost dates vary with local conditions and from year to year, and invites gardeners to favor earlier or later dates within a range.
Treat the table as a starting range and look at the ten-day forecast before setting out anything tender.
Sources (8)
- Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech (Jadrnicek and Hessler), Virginia's Home Garden Vegetable Planting Guide: Recommended Planting Dates and Amounts to Plant, publication 426-331 (SPES-673P), May 30, 2025 pubs.ext.vt.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