When to Plant Kale in Waterbury, CT

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when you can plant kale is to check out the USDA zone info for Waterbury.


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 a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant kale
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant kale
Probably not a good time to plant kale

The earliest that you can plant kale in Waterbury 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 fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Waterbury. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Waterbury and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Waterbury you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your kale if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waterbury

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Waterbury

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