One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant flowering kale in Melbourne should be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Kale

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

Since flowering kale do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant flowering kale in Melbourne 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 flowering kale and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your flowering kale may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your flowering kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Melbourne the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Melbourne is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Melbourne there is a last frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your flowering kale if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Melbourne

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 Melbourne

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