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

You should be able to figure out when you can plant kale by checking out the USDA zone info for Forest City.

Planting Calendar for Kale

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

Kale are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

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

Last Frost Date

In Forest City the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Forest City is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Forest City you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your kale if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Forest City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Forest City

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