One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

You will be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant basil by referring to the USDA zone info for Hawthorne.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Since basil do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Hawthorne 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

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Hawthorne. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Hawthorne may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Hawthorne you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your basil in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Hawthorne

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 Hawthorne

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