When to Plant Basil in Pawtucket, RI

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Pawtucket should be figured out 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 when the weather gets warmer.

Basil require warm weather which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant basil
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant basil
Probably not a good time to plant basil

The earliest that you can plant basil in Pawtucket 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. 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 is on April 15 in Pawtucket. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Pawtucket may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Pawtucket it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your basil if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Pawtucket

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

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

Plants to Grow in Pawtucket

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