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.

It's a good idea to determine when it's the best time to plant okra by looking at the USDA zone info for Smithville.

Planting Calendar for Okra

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

You should not plant okra until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Smithville 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 grow to maturity. Starting your okra indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Smithville. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Smithville is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Smithville last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your okra if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Smithville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Smithville

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