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.

You can estimate when it's the best time to plant flowering kale in Skokie by using 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.

Flowering Kale are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant flowering kale in Skokie 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. If you are starting your flowering kale indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Skokie. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Skokie is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Skokie you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your flowering kale if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Skokie

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Skokie

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