One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 Manitou Springs you can determine when it's possible to plant kale by checking out 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.

Kale do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant kale in Manitou Springs 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Manitou Springs. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Manitou Springs is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Manitou Springs it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your kale if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Manitou Springs

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Manitou Springs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Manitou Springs.