One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 USDA zone info for Gurnee can be read to determine when it's a good idea to plant okra.

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 are not cold tolerant it is important to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Gurnee 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 really do well. Starting your okra indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Gurnee. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Gurnee is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Gurnee it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your okra in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gurnee

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 Gurnee

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