172 to 200 days — that’s the window Salt Lake City gives a tomato between the last spring freeze and the first fall one, and it’s the number every variety on this list has to beat. Cherry and grape tomatoes clear it with room to spare. The big paste and slicing types eat up nearly the whole span, especially once your garden sits higher and colder than the valley floor. Match the days-to-maturity on the seed packet against that window, and you’ll know which tomatoes are a safe bet and which ones are a gamble.
What this comes down to in Utah
In Salt Lake City, NOAA’s NCEI 1991-2020 climate normals put the last spring freeze at April 12 to April 29 and the first fall freeze at October 18 to October 29, at station USW00024127. That leaves a growing season of roughly 172 to 200 days depending on where the freezes actually fall in a given year. Any tomato that finishes, counted from the day transplants go into the ground, well inside that span has a real shot at ripening before the garden shuts down for the year.
Catalogue days-to-maturity numbers are counted from transplant, not from seed, and they’re the same in every state because they describe the plant, not the climate. Cross that number against the local frost window and you know whether a variety is a safe bet or a gamble. The cherry and grape types on this list clear the frost line with weeks to spare. The biggest paste and slicing tomatoes use up nearly all of it, which matters more the higher and colder your garden sits above Salt Lake City.
Sakura
Sakura is one of the fastest tomatoes on this list, reaching first ripe fruit in about 55 days from transplant. It’s an indeterminate cherry tomato grown for fresh eating and salads, not sauce. Set out late April to mid May, it ripens by early July and still carries roughly 103 days of margin before the first fall freeze, more cushion than almost any garden in the state needs.
Sun Gold
Sun Gold needs about 57 days from transplant to first ripe fruit, just two days behind Sakura. It’s an indeterminate cherry type bred for sweetness rather than shelf life, best eaten within a day or two of picking. With the same late-April-to-mid-May transplant window, it ripens by early July and carries about 101 days of margin before frost.
Juliet
Juliet takes about 60 days from transplant, an indeterminate grape tomato that holds up well enough for fresh eating and light sauce work alike. Transplanted in the late-April-to-mid-May window, it ripens by mid July and leaves about 98 days of margin before the first fall freeze, comfortable in nearly every part of the state.
Amalfi
Amalfi is a determinate paste tomato, ready in about 68 days from transplant, grown for canning and sauce rather than slicing. Its intermediate resistance to early blight and late blight is worth having in a state where afternoon thunderstorms can leave foliage wet into evening. Set out in the same window, it ripens by mid July with about 90 days of margin before frost.
Cherokee Purple
Cherokee Purple is a 72-day indeterminate heirloom beefsteak, grown for slicing and prized for its rich, dusky flavor rather than for disease resistance, since it carries none of the resistance codes bred into the newer hybrids on this list. Transplanted late April to mid May, it ripens late July with about 86 days of margin before the first fall freeze, enough room in Salt Lake City but worth watching in a cooler year.
San Marzano II
San Marzano II is a 78-day indeterminate paste tomato, the classic choice for canned sauce, and one of the longer-season varieties on this list. Set out late April to mid May, it ripens late July and still leaves about 80 days of margin before frost in Salt Lake City, but that margin is the smallest of any variety here, so a late or cold spring cuts into it fastest.
Celebrity Plus
Celebrity Plus is a 78-day determinate slicer bred with resistance to nematodes, gray leaf spot and tomato mosaic virus, useful in a garden that has grown tomatoes in the same soil for years. Transplanted in the same late-April-to-mid-May window, it ripens late July with about 80 days of margin before the first fall freeze, tied with San Marzano II for the tightest margin among the varieties named here.
| Variety | Days to maturity | Growth habit | Margin before frost* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sakura | 55 | Indeterminate | ~103 days |
| Edox | 55 | Indeterminate | ~103 days |
| Valentine | 55 | Indeterminate | ~103 days |
| Glacier | 55 | Determinate | ~103 days |
| Sun Gold | 57 | Indeterminate | ~101 days |
| Supersweet 100 | 60 | Indeterminate | ~98 days |
| Juliet | 60 | Indeterminate | ~98 days |
| Amalfi | 68 | Determinate | ~90 days |
| Cherokee Purple | 72 | Indeterminate | ~86 days |
| Big Beef Plus | 72 | Indeterminate | ~86 days |
| Tiren | 75 | Indeterminate | ~83 days |
| Granadero | 75 | Indeterminate | ~83 days |
| San Marzano II | 78 | Indeterminate | ~80 days |
| Celebrity Plus | 78 | Determinate | ~80 days |
Margin figures assume transplant in the late-April-to-mid-May window and are calculated against Salt Lake City’s NOAA fall freeze window of October 18 to October 29. Other elevations and latitudes in the state will differ.
Working it out for your own garden
Start with the two frost dates NOAA’s NCEI 1991-2020 climate normals give for Salt Lake City: last spring freeze April 12 to April 29, first fall freeze October 18 to October 29. Then add forward the days-to-maturity number a catalogue lists for the variety you want, always counted from the transplant date, not from seed-starting. A range plus a fixed number of days still gives you a range, never a single date, so don’t round it down to one Tuesday in May just because that’s easier to write on a calendar.
A short-season example
Take Sakura, a 55-day cherry tomato. Set transplants out anywhere in the late-April-to-mid-May window Salt Lake City’s frost data allows, count 55 days forward, and first ripe fruit lands in early July. From there to the first fall freeze in the October 18 to October 29 window is roughly 103 days, comfortable margin in almost any year the normals describe.
A longer-season example
Now take San Marzano II, a 78-day paste tomato. Same transplant window, first ripe fruit lands in late July instead of early July, and the margin before frost narrows to about 80 days, still a pass in Salt Lake City. Push that transplant date back a few weeks, because the soil stayed cold or a start got leggy waiting for a warm spell, and the ripening date slides back with it. In a higher, colder garden than Salt Lake City, where the whole frost-free window is shorter to begin with, that same slip can push ripening past the first fall freeze entirely, which is exactly the line this variety sits closest to among those named here.
For the week-by-week breakdown of this arithmetic across the rest of the season, see Tomato Planting Dates in Utah: Counting Back From Your Frost Window.
What changes across the state
Salt Lake City sits in a mild valley moderated by the Great Salt Lake, and the NOAA figures above come from a single station there, USW00024127. Most of Utah sits higher and colder than that, and a good part of the south sits lower and warmer. USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map, built on the same 1991-2020 period, places the state anywhere from zone 4a in the highest mountain valleys to zone 9a in the warmest low-elevation basins of the south, a five-zone spread inside one state line.
Elevation is the biggest driver of all this. A garden a few thousand feet higher than Salt Lake City sees its last spring freeze arrive later and its first fall freeze arrive earlier, shrinking the frost-free window from both ends at once. That’s exactly where the tight-margin varieties, San Marzano II and Celebrity Plus among them, stop being a safe default and the 55-day types like Sakura, Edox, Valentine and Glacier start earning their keep.
Distance from the Great Salt Lake itself matters on a smaller scale. The lake moderates spring and fall temperatures nearby, which is part of why the reference station sits inside that mild band to begin with. Move away from the valley floor, north toward Cache Valley or up onto the mountain benches, and the same variety that ripens comfortably in Salt Lake City can run right up against an early fall freeze.
Southern Utah runs the other direction. Lower elevation and stronger summer heat around St. George and the Dixie corridor generally push both frost dates outward, a longer season on paper, but very high summer temperatures there can stall fruit set in mid-summer regardless of how much time is left before frost. Neither effect has a single number attached to it in the data available here, so treat the Salt Lake City figures as the reference point, not the answer for your own elevation and latitude.
The mistakes this state punishes
The most common mistake is planting into cold soil after a warm week fools the calendar. Utah’s spring weather swings hard, and a string of 70-degree days in early April does not mean the last freeze, which NOAA’s normals put at April 12 to April 29 for Salt Lake City, has actually passed. Tomato roots stall in cold soil even if the plant survives above ground, and a stalled start eats straight into the margin every variety above depends on.
The second is choosing a variety for its flavor or size without checking whether the season allows it. San Marzano II and Celebrity Plus carry the least margin of the varieties named here, and in a higher or colder garden than Salt Lake City, that margin can disappear before the fruit finishes ripening. If you already know your garden runs cold or high, the 55-to-60-day varieties are the safer default, not the exception you fall back to after a bad year.
The third is missing the window for the pests that show up on a predictable schedule each season, since even a healthy stand of any variety above can still lose its crop to an infestation caught too late. The specific insects and the weeks they typically arrive in Utah, and the step that comes right after choosing a variety, are covered in Tomato Pests in Utah: Which Ones Actually Show Up Here, worth checking before you assume a slow harvest is a ripening problem rather than a pest one.
Checking this against your county
Everything above is anchored to Salt Lake City, and a state-wide figure is a starting point, not an instruction for your own yard. Check with your county office of USU Extension, at extension.usu.edu, for the frost dates and variety notes specific to your elevation and valley. If you haven’t worked out your own transplant date yet, the full method is in Tomato Planting Dates in Utah: Counting Back From Your Frost Window, and the basics of the crop itself are covered in growing tomatoes in Utah.
Common questions
Can I grow a 78-day tomato in Utah?
Yes, in Salt Lake City and similar valley elevations, a 78-day variety like San Marzano II or Celebrity Plus still finishes with roughly 80 days of margin before the first fall freeze. In a higher or colder garden, check with your county extension office before committing to a long-season variety as your main crop.
What’s the fastest tomato I can grow here?
Among the varieties covered here, Sakura, Edox, Valentine and Glacier all reach first ripe fruit in about 55 days from transplant, the shortest of the group. That leaves the widest margin before frost of any variety named on this page.
Do disease-resistant varieties matter more in Utah?
They matter most in gardens that have grown tomatoes in the same soil for several years, where nematodes and soil-borne wilts build up over time. Celebrity Plus and Big Beef Plus both carry resistance to nematodes and several diseases, which is worth more in an established bed than in a brand-new one.
Does starting seed indoors change these numbers?
No, the days-to-maturity figure is always counted from the transplant date, not the seed-starting date. Starting seed indoors only changes when you have a transplant ready, it doesn’t change how many days that variety needs once it’s actually in the ground.