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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant kale is to use the USDA zone info for Richland Center.

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 a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant kale in Richland Center 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. If you are starting your kale indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Richland Center the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Richland Center and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Richland Center it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to cover your kale if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Richland Center

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 Richland Center

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Richland Center.