When to Plant Basil in Burlingame, CA

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.

A way of determining when it's the best time to plant basil is to examine the USDA zone info for Burlingame.


Planting Calendar for Basil

Frost tolerance for basil: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since basil are not cold tolerant you must wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant basil
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant basil
Probably not a good time to plant basil

The earliest that you can plant basil in Burlingame is February. However, you really should wait until March 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your basil may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Burlingame the average date of last frost happens on January 31. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Burlingame and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Burlingame there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to cover your basil if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Burlingame

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Burlingame

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