One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A way of estimating when you can plant red cabbage is to look at the USDA zone info for Poughkeepsie.

Planting Calendar for Red cabbage

Frost tolerance for red cabbage:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Red cabbage are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant red cabbage in Poughkeepsie 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 red cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your red cabbage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your red cabbage indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Poughkeepsie. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Poughkeepsie is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Poughkeepsie there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your red cabbage in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Poughkeepsie

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Poughkeepsie

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