One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant kale by referring to the USDA zone info for Escanaba.

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 just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant kale in Escanaba 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

In Escanaba the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Escanaba is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Escanaba it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your kale in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Escanaba

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Escanaba

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