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.

The USDA zone info for Austin should be read to determine when to plant basil.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

You can not plant basil until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Austin 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. Any later than that and your basil may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Austin. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Austin is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Austin last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your basil if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Austin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Austin

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