When to Plant Basil in Lumberton, NC

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when you can plant basil is to check out the USDA zone info for Lumberton.


Planting Calendar for Basil

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

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

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant basil
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant basil
Probably not a good time to plant basil

The earliest that you can plant basil in Lumberton 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 fully mature. If you are starting your basil indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Lumberton. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lumberton may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Lumberton there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your basil if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lumberton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)November 15
Lowest Expected Low10°F
Highest Expected Low15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Lumberton

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