One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 making a decision about when it's the best time to plant red cabbage is to refer to the USDA zone info for Hartselle.

Planting Calendar for Red cabbage

Frost tolerance for red cabbage:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Red cabbage do well in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant red cabbage in Hartselle 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 red cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your red cabbage may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your red cabbage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Hartselle. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Hartselle may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Hartselle last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your red cabbage in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hartselle

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 Hartselle

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