One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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.

One way of figuring out when it's possible to plant okra is to examine the USDA zone info for Muscatine.

Planting Calendar for Okra

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

Okra require warm weather which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Muscatine 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. If you wait any later than that and your okra may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your okra indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Muscatine the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

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

USDA Zone Info for Muscatine

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 Muscatine

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