One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The first opportunity to plant flowering kale in Austin can be figured out by referring to 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.

Since flowering kale are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant flowering kale in Austin is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 August. Any later than that and your flowering kale may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your flowering kale indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Austin. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Austin is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Austin it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to cover your flowering kale in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Austin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Austin

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