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.

A common way of estimating when it's possible to plant decorative kale is to examine the USDA zone info for Chittenango.

Planting Calendar for Decorative Kale

Frost tolerance for decorative kale:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since decorative kale are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant decorative kale in Chittenango 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 decorative kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your decorative kale may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your decorative kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Chittenango is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Chittenango last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your decorative kale if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chittenango

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

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

Plants to Grow in Chittenango

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