When to Plant Flowering Kale in Vinton, IA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Vinton it's possible to figure out when it's the best time to plant flowering kale.


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 just a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate 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 Vinton 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your flowering kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Vinton. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Vinton and it is different every year. Half of the time in Vinton you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your flowering kale if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Vinton

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 Vinton

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