One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to figure out when it's possible to plant basil by reviewing the USDA zone info for Atascadero.

Planting Calendar for Basil

Frost tolerance for basil:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You should not plant basil until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Atascadero is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant basil and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your basil may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Atascadero. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Atascadero and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Atascadero it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your basil in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Atascadero

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Atascadero

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Atascadero.