Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Winona you will 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 all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant basil until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Winona 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 really do well. If you are starting your basil indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Winona. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Winona is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Winona you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your basil if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Winona

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

Plants to Grow in Winona

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