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 Bourbonnais can be figured out 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 has passed.

Okra require warm weather which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Bourbonnais 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your okra indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Bourbonnais. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Bourbonnais and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Bourbonnais you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your okra if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bourbonnais

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 Bourbonnais

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