One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant kale is to consult the USDA zone info for Neptune Beach.

Planting Calendar for Kale

Frost tolerance for kale:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Kale do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant kale in Neptune Beach is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant kale and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your kale may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Neptune Beach. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Neptune Beach and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Neptune Beach you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your kale in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Neptune Beach

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 Neptune Beach

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Neptune Beach.