One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Bogota you can determine when it's the best time to plant basil 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.

It's probably not a good idea to plant basil until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Bogota 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 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 when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Bogota. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Bogota and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Bogota there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your basil if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bogota

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Bogota

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