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

The first chance to plant basil in Champaign can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant basil until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Champaign 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 really do well. 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 April 15 in Champaign. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Champaign is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Champaign you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your basil in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Champaign

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Champaign

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