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.

A way of estimating when you can plant kale is to look at the USDA zone info for Arlington Heights.

Planting Calendar for Kale

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

Since kale do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant kale in Arlington Heights 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 kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your kale may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Arlington Heights the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Arlington Heights is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Arlington Heights last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your kale in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Arlington Heights

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 Arlington Heights

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Arlington Heights.