The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant okra by looking at the USDA zone info for Melrose.

Planting Calendar for Okra

Frost tolerance for okra:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

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

The earliest that you can plant okra in Melrose 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. Any later than that and 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 Melrose. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Melrose may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Melrose last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your okra in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Melrose

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Melrose

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