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

It's probably not a good idea to plant okra until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Vandalia 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your okra indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Vandalia. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Vandalia is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Vandalia it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your okra in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Vandalia

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 Vandalia

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