When to Plant Kale in Tuscola, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

The earliest that you can plant kale in Tuscola should be determined by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Kale

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

Since kale are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant kale in Tuscola 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. 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

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Tuscola. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Tuscola is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Tuscola there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your kale if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Tuscola

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 Tuscola

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