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.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant basil is to refer to the USDA zone info for Patchogue.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Since basil require warm weather it's important to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Patchogue 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Patchogue. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Patchogue is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Patchogue there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your basil if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Patchogue

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 Patchogue

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