One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Riverbank you can figure out when it's possible to plant basil by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Basil are not cold tolerant which tells us that it is necessary 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 Riverbank 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. 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 Riverbank the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Riverbank is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Riverbank you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your basil if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Riverbank

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 Riverbank

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