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.

A way of determining when it's the best time to plant kale is to refer to the USDA zone info for Orangeburg.

Planting Calendar for Kale

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

Since kale do well in moderate cold 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 kale in Orangeburg 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 kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your kale may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Orangeburg is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Orangeburg last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your kale if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Orangeburg

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 Orangeburg

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