One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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 estimating when it's a good idea to plant basil is to refer to the USDA zone info for Sweetwater.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Basil are not cold tolerant which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Sweetwater 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Sweetwater 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 Sweetwater is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Sweetwater last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your basil if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sweetwater

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 Sweetwater

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