One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant basil by using the USDA zone info for Oak Creek.

Planting Calendar for Basil

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

It's not a good idea to plant basil until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant basil in Oak Creek 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your basil may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your basil indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Oak Creek. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Oak Creek is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Oak Creek last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your basil in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Oak Creek

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Oak Creek

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Oak Creek.