One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Homestead can be looked at to determine when it's possible to plant basil.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Since basil do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Homestead 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. If you wait 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

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Homestead. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Homestead may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Homestead there is a last frost after January 31 so be sure to be ready to protect your basil if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Homestead

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Homestead

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