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.

The USDA zone info for Lakewood can be looked at to figure out when it's a good idea to plant basil.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Basil do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Lakewood 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. Any later than that and your basil may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Lakewood. You can expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lakewood may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Lakewood you get a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to protect your basil if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lakewood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Lakewood

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