One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

One way of determining when it's the best time to plant kale is to consult the USDA zone info for Mauston.

Planting Calendar for Kale

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

Kale can survive in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant kale in Mauston 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Mauston. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mauston is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Mauston you get a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your kale if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mauston

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 Mauston

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