One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant basil is to consult the USDA zone info for Brentwood.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Basil are not cold tolerant which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Brentwood 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. If you wait any later than that and your basil may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Brentwood. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Brentwood is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Brentwood you get a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your basil in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Brentwood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Brentwood

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