One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Litchfield Park you can determine 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 do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant kale in Litchfield Park 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. Any later than that and your kale may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your kale indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Litchfield Park. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Litchfield Park and it is different every year. Half of the time in Litchfield Park there is a last frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your kale if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Litchfield Park

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Litchfield Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Litchfield Park.