When to Plant Decorative Kale in Spring Valley, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Spring Valley can be looked at to estimate when it's possible to plant decorative kale.


Planting Calendar for Decorative Kale

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

Decorative Kale do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant decorative kale in Spring Valley 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 decorative kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your decorative kale may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your decorative kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Spring Valley. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Spring Valley is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Spring Valley last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your decorative kale if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Spring Valley

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 Spring Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Spring Valley.