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

In Carterville you can determine when it's the best time to plant flowering kale by reviewing 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 one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant flowering kale in Carterville 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. Any later than that and your flowering kale may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your flowering kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Carterville the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Carterville is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Carterville you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your flowering kale in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Carterville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Carterville

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