One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

One way of figuring out when to plant basil is to refer to the USDA zone info for Petersburg.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

Since basil do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Petersburg 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 Petersburg the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Petersburg is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Petersburg it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your basil in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Petersburg

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 Petersburg

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