Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 Saratoga can be used to figure out when it's the best time to plant basil.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

You should not plant basil until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Saratoga 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. Starting your basil indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Saratoga. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Saratoga is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Saratoga last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your basil if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Saratoga

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 Saratoga

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