One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant basil in Lexington can be figured out by using 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.

It's probably a bad idea to plant basil until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Lexington 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 really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Lexington is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lexington last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your basil in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lexington

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 Lexington

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