Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant basil in La Joya should be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

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

The earliest that you can plant basil in La Joya is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant basil and expect a good harvest is probably September. 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 all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in La Joya. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for La Joya is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in La Joya last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your basil if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for La Joya

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in La Joya

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Joya.