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 way of determining when it's possible to plant basil is to examine the USDA zone info for Coal City.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

You should not plant basil until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Coal City 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 grow to maturity. Starting your basil indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Coal City the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Coal City may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Coal City last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your basil if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Coal City

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 Coal City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Coal City.