When to Plant Basil in Tarpon Springs, FL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of getting a good idea when you can plant basil is to use the USDA zone info for Tarpon Springs.


Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Since basil do not do well in cold weather you need to wait until after the last frost 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 Tarpon Springs 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. If you wait any later than that and your basil may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your basil indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Tarpon Springs. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Tarpon Springs is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Tarpon Springs you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your basil in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Tarpon Springs

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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 Tarpon Springs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Tarpon Springs.