The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. 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 Santa Monica can be estimated by looking at 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.

Since okra require warm weather you really should wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Santa Monica is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant okra and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your okra may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your okra indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in Santa Monica. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Monica is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Monica you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so be sure to be ready to cover your okra if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Monica

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Santa Monica

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Monica.