When to Plant Kale in Brandon, SD

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 reviewing the USDA zone info for Brandon it's a good idea to figure out when 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 are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant kale
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant kale
Probably not a good time to plant kale

The earliest that you can plant kale in Brandon 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your kale may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your kale indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Brandon. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Brandon is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Brandon there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to protect your kale if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Brandon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-25°F
Highest Expected Low-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Brandon

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