When to Plant Kohlrabi in Iowa City, IA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Iowa City can be looked at to estimate when it's possible to plant kohlrabi.


Planting Calendar for Kohlrabi

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

Kohlrabi tend to make it in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant kohlrabi in Iowa City 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 kohlrabi and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your kohlrabi may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your kohlrabi indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Iowa City. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Iowa City is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Iowa City it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your kohlrabi in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Iowa City

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 Iowa City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Iowa City.