One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Asheville can be determined by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Okra

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

You really shouldn't plant okra until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Asheville 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 okra and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your okra may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your okra indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Asheville. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Asheville is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Asheville last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to protect your okra in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Asheville

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 Asheville

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