The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. 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 it's a good idea to plant kale is to check out the USDA zone info for Beaver Dam.

Planting Calendar for Kale

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

Kale do ok in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant kale in Beaver Dam 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. If you are starting your kale indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Beaver Dam. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Beaver Dam is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Beaver Dam you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your kale if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Beaver Dam

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Beaver Dam

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Beaver Dam.