When to plant tomatoes in Fort Smith: 5 April – 29 July

In Fort Smith, tomato: sow for seedlings from 22 January to 7 June; plant into a greenhouse from 15 March to 29 July; plant out into open ground from 5 April to 29 July.

Tomato in Fort Smith: soil, season and weather

In Fort Smith the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 16 March, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 15 °C — the minimum on the tomato card — only around 5 April, 20 days later.

Last spring frost	16 March
Top 7 cm of soil at 15 °C	5 April, 20 days after the last frost
Into an unheated greenhouse	15 March – 29 July; March outside: 7.2 °C at night, 18.8 °C by day; card 16–27 °C
First autumn frost	18 November, 227 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	70
First harvest, if planted in this window	14 June – 7 October
Days left for picking	157
Daylight	10:48 on 12 February, 12:42 on 5 April
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 3 days; the driest month, September, has 6 rainy days

Tomato in Fort Smith: care after planting

Planted on 5 April: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

Feeding, by the card’s schedule from that day:

5 April — feed: balanced (NPK)
3 May — feed: nitrogen

Pests and diseases of tomato to watch for:

Dates count from the first planting day of the window above; a later planting moves them by as many days.

Weather in Fort Smith during the tomato season

Days average above the tomato card's 16–27 °C in June–September (30.3–33.5 °C). Nights average below 16 °C in April, May and October, November (6.5–15.9 °C).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
April	22	10.7	175	12	13:04
May	26.3	15.9	151	13	14:01
June	31.5	20.8	95	11	14:32
July	33.5	23.2	91	10	14:20
August	32.6	22.4	88	9	13:31
September	30.3	19.4	73	6	12:26
October	24	13.2	113	8	11:20
November	17.1	6.5	91	8	10:19

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Tomato in nearby cities

Around Fort Smith, Shreveport is 37 days earlier and Joplin 6 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Fayetteville	78 km	10 April – 21 July	5 days later
Tulsa	169 km	6 April – 28 July	1 day later
Joplin	189 km	11 April – 12 July	6 days later
Little Rock	203 km	16 March – 31 July	20 days earlier
Oklahoma City	285 km	23 March – 21 July	13 days earlier
Shreveport	329 km	27 February – 19 August	37 days earlier

Where to buy tomato plants and seeds near Fort Smith

Buy plants ready to set out from 5 April to 29 July (from 15 March to 29 July for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 22 January to 7 June. Within 15 km of Fort Smith OpenStreetMap lists 1 garden centre and 1 plant nursery (collected 28 October 2026).

Home Depot Garden Center — garden centre
4 km
Lafoon's Greenhouse & Nursery — plant nursery
6 km

Each window starts on the Greenly calendar date and ends on the last day that still leaves the crop’s days to harvest (from its card) before the average first autumn frost, plus six weeks of picking for crops harvested over weeks (tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins, watermelons, beans) — our rule; earlier in the window is safer.

Questions