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.

You can figure out when you can plant basil in Baton Rouge by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

You should not plant basil until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Baton Rouge 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Baton Rouge. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Baton Rouge is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Baton Rouge you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your basil if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Baton Rouge

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 Baton Rouge

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Baton Rouge.