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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Colonial Heights you will be able to estimate when to plant basil.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Since basil require warm weather you have to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Colonial Heights 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. 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 all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Colonial Heights. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Colonial Heights

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Colonial Heights

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Colonial Heights.