Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Elgin should be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Okra

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

It's a bad idea to plant okra until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Elgin 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 few weeks earlier by starting your okra indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Elgin. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Elgin and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Elgin last frost occurs after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your okra in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Elgin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Elgin

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