When to Plant Kale in Waite Park, MN

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 Waite Park should be reviewed to figure out when it's a good idea to plant kale.


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 one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them just 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 Waite Park 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 kale and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your kale may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Waite Park. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Waite Park may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Waite Park there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your kale in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Waite Park

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-30°F
Highest Expected Low-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Waite Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Waite Park.