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.

You should be able to determine when it's possible to plant basil by checking out the USDA zone info for Smithville.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

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

The earliest that you can plant basil in Smithville 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Smithville. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Smithville is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Smithville you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your basil if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Smithville

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 Smithville

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