One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 estimating when it's the best time to plant basil is to refer to the USDA zone info for Oakley.

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 is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Oakley 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your basil indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Oakley. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Oakley is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Oakley you get a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your basil if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Oakley

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 Oakley

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