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.

In Rockingham you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant flowering kale by reviewing 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.

Flowering Kale do ok in some cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant flowering kale in Rockingham 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 flowering kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your flowering kale may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your flowering kale indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Rockingham. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rockingham is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Rockingham last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your flowering kale if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rockingham

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Rockingham

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