One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

You should be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant okra by referring to the USDA zone info for Ontario.

Planting Calendar for Okra

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

Okra are not cold tolerant which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Ontario 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ontario. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ontario is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Ontario there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your okra in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ontario

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 Ontario

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