When to Plant Basil in San Carlos, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant basil is to examine the USDA zone info for San Carlos.


Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Since basil do not do well in cold weather it is important to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer 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 San Carlos 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in San Carlos. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for San Carlos is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in San Carlos there is a last frost after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your basil if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for San Carlos

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 San Carlos

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Carlos.