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 will be able to determine when it's possible to plant decorative kale by reviewing the USDA zone info for Hammond.

Planting Calendar for Decorative Kale

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

You can plant decorative kale a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant decorative kale in Hammond 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. Starting your decorative kale indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Hammond the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Hammond is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Hammond it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your decorative kale in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hammond

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 Hammond

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