One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 USDA zone info for Dickinson can be read to estimate when it's possible 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.

Kale do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant kale in Dickinson 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. Any later than that and your kale may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Dickinson. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Dickinson and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Dickinson you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your kale if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dickinson

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 Dickinson

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