The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant basil is to examine the USDA zone info for Ocean Springs.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant basil until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Ocean Springs is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant basil and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and 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 when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Ocean Springs. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ocean Springs is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ocean Springs it frosts late in the year after February 15 so always be ready to cover your basil if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ocean Springs

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Ocean Springs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ocean Springs.