One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Closter you can figure out when it's the best time to plant kale by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Kale

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

Since kale are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather 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 Closter 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 little bit earlier by starting your kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Closter. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Closter and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Closter last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your kale in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Closter

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Closter

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