Plant Tomatoes in Zone 8a

Zone 8a averages 228 frost-free days, running from a last spring frost around March 25 to a first fall frost around November 8. Tomatoes needs roughly 75 days from planting out to first harvest, so it uses about 33 percent of that window. Tomatoes is a tender crop, which is what decides where in the window it belongs.

Because tomatoes needs a head start, sow seed indoors around Feb 4, about 7 weeks ahead of the Zone 8a last frost. Transplants go out around Apr 8. Starting earlier than that in Zone 8a usually backfires: plants outgrow their cells and stall when they finally hit cold soil. At 75 days to harvest, a 228-day Zone 8a season has room for about 2 sowings, so stagger them rather than planting everything at once.

Yes. Sow tomatoes by July 28 in Zone 8a. That is 103 days before the average first frost, which covers the 75 days to maturity plus about two weeks for the slower growth that comes with shortening days, plus a two week margin because frost kills tomatoes outright.

A second tomato crop only works where the first fall frost is late enough to finish it, which in practice means zone 9 and warmer.