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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant okra is to check out the USDA zone info for Bellingham.

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 because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Bellingham 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your okra may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your okra indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Bellingham. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Bellingham and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Bellingham you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your okra if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bellingham

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Bellingham

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