When to Plant Flowering Kale in Muscatine, IA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant flowering kale in Muscatine 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 are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant flowering kale in Muscatine 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. 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your flowering kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Muscatine. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Muscatine and it is different every year. Half of the time in Muscatine last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your flowering kale if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Muscatine

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 Muscatine

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