Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when it's the best time to plant basil by referring to the USDA zone info for Palmdale.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

It's a bad idea to plant basil until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

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

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Palmdale. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Palmdale is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Palmdale it frosts late in the year after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your basil in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Palmdale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Palmdale

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