One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Rensselaer you should be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant red cabbage.

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 means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant red cabbage in Rensselaer 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. Any later than that and your red cabbage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your red cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Rensselaer is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rensselaer last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your red cabbage in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rensselaer

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 Rensselaer

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