Vegetable · Brassicaceae
When to plant kale
Hardier than any other brassica and better after frost than before it.
Start seed indoors
6 weeks before
Counted from your last spring frost.
Plant out
2 weeks before
Counted from your last spring frost.
Sow direct
2 weeks before
Counted from your last spring frost.
Those weeks become real dates once you name a place.
Timing, in frost-relative terms
Seed packets rarely give calendar dates, because a date that suits one latitude is wrong at another. They give offsets from the last spring frost instead, and those offsets are what make kale plantable anywhere.
- Start seed indoors 6 weeks before the last frost.
- Plant out 2 weeks before the last frost.
- Sow direct 2 weeks before the last frost.
- Expect 55–75 days to maturity, counted from sowing.
- Can also be sown in late summer for an autumn crop or to overwinter.
Getting the timing right
Spring sowings feed you through summer; the sowing made twelve weeks before first frost is the one that carries you through winter.
Frost tolerance
Survives -12C and sweetens markedly below freezing as starches convert to sugars. Frost is a feature of this crop, not a threat.
Classified as very-hardy, with damage expected below -12°C (10.4°F)10.4°F (-12°C).