One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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 common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant basil is to use the USDA zone info for Plattsburgh.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

It's a bad idea to plant basil until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Plattsburgh 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your basil indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Plattsburgh. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Plattsburgh is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Plattsburgh last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your basil in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Plattsburgh

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Plattsburgh

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