What is Frost Date?

We are so lucky in Southern California with weather.  It definitely calls for year round planting.  It can be a nightmare though...im sure most of the country is itching to get back into the garden from a nice break, I, on the other hand don't get a break and wish I could have a small break without watching my garden suffer.

I'm still not 100% sure of when to start my tomato seeds in Los Angeles.  I started mine on January 26 this year.  Local nurseries started selling transplants around the same time.  I bought 3 of those transplants around the first week of February so those have been growing nicely.  They say to put them out after danger of last frost... well my frost date says 2/20... I have been around over 10 years in socal and I know that we MAY get frost maximum about a week of frost and its done by mid January.  The frost we do get barely dips in the high 20s around 3am and its coupled by day times of 60s-70s.  So is this really frost?

Could I have started my seedlings earlier?  Maybe around mid-December?  I would have saved a few $$.   Maybe next year I will try to start earlier.

I spent the weekend breaking up my soil a bit.  My radishes and part of my winter crops were done for awhile and I let a small portion sit empty while my tomato seedlings grew up so I ended up with some dry soil. So with some water and a fork I broke it all up... First time I really did some real soil prep.

On Sunday, 9 tomato babies went in... so in all I have 12 tomato plants... too much for 2 people?   But there are so many great varieties and so much more I wish I could plant... looks like I will have a lot of tomatoes this year.