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

A common way of estimating when you can plant basil is to examine the USDA zone info for Westwood.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

You should not plant basil until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Westwood 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Westwood the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Westwood is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Westwood you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your basil in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Westwood

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 Westwood

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