One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when it's possible to plant okra is to check out the USDA zone info for Franklin.

Planting Calendar for Okra

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

You can not plant okra until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Franklin 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. 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 Franklin. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Franklin is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Franklin there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your okra in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Franklin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Franklin

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