When to Plant Okra in Hillsboro, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 Hillsboro should be read to determine when you can plant okra.


Planting Calendar for Okra

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

Since okra do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant okra
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant okra
Probably not a good time to plant okra

The earliest that you can plant okra in Hillsboro 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. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your okra indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Hillsboro. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Hillsboro

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Hillsboro

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