When to Plant Basil in Glenwood, IA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant basil is to look at the USDA zone info for Glenwood.


Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Since basil are not cold tolerant you really should wait until after all chance of frost has passed 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 Glenwood 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. If you wait any later than that and 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 April 15 in Glenwood. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°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 Glenwood and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Glenwood you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your basil in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Glenwood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Glenwood

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