One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

In Bay City you can determine when it's the best time to plant okra by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Okra

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

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

The earliest that you can plant okra in Bay City is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant okra and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your okra may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your okra indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Bay City the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Bay City is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Bay City it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your okra in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bay City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Bay City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Bay City.