The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's the best time to plant basil is to look at the USDA zone info for Quitman.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

It's a bad idea to plant basil until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Quitman is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant basil and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your basil may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Quitman. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Quitman and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Quitman you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your basil in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Quitman

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Quitman

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