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

By looking at the USDA zone info for Gloucester you should be able to figure out when to plant basil.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Basil require warm weather which tells us that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Gloucester 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 few weeks earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Gloucester the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Gloucester is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Gloucester it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your basil in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Gloucester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Gloucester

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