🌿 When to Plant Basil

Plant with the tomatoes, harvest by pinching. Pick your zone below for exact dates, or read the quick reference.

Season type
Warm-season
very tender
Spacing
10″ / 18″
plants / rows
Days to maturity
30–60
from transplant

Basil blackens at the faintest frost — never rush it out. Pinch stems just above a leaf pair and the plant doubles instead of flowering; once it blooms, flavor fades, so keep pinching.

Basil planting windows by zone

ZoneMain planting window
Zone 1 Jun 22 – Jun 29 transplant outdoors
Zone 2 Jun 6 – Jun 13 transplant outdoors
Zone 3 May 22 – May 29 transplant outdoors
Zone 4 May 12 – May 19 transplant outdoors
Zone 5 Apr 29 – May 6 transplant outdoors
Zone 6 Apr 17 – Apr 24 transplant outdoors
Zone 7 Apr 6 – Apr 13 transplant outdoors
Zone 8 Mar 22 – Mar 29 transplant outdoors
Zone 9 Feb 27 – Mar 6 transplant outdoors
Zone 10 Feb 1 – Feb 8 transplant outdoors
Zone 11 Nearly year-round frost-free
Zone 12 Nearly year-round frost-free
Zone 13 Nearly year-round frost-free

Each zone link above has the complete schedule — indoor seed-starting, direct sowing, and season-fit notes. Zone dates are typical medians; for windows built on your own city's frost dates, use the frost date lookup and planting calendar.