One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 making a decision about when you can plant flowering kale is to use the USDA zone info for Grimes.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Kale

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

You can plant flowering kale a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant flowering kale in Grimes 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 flowering kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your flowering kale may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your flowering kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Grimes. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Grimes is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Grimes last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your flowering kale if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Grimes

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Grimes

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