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 making a decision about when to plant flowering kale is to refer to the USDA zone info for Vinton.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Kale

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

Flowering Kale do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant flowering kale in Vinton 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 flowering kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your flowering kale may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your flowering kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Vinton. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Vinton and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Vinton there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your flowering kale if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Vinton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Vinton

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