Kale · Hulan Ergi, Heilongjiang, China
When to plant kale in Hulan Ergi
Main outdoor window
13 Apr - 4 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
27 April
In Hulan Ergi, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
7-27 Jun
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Hulan Ergi
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
16 Mar - 6 Apr
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for overwintering
17 Jun - 8 Jul
Counting back 89 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
13 Apr - 4 May
Two weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
13 Apr - 4 May
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
7-27 Jun
Kale through the year
Against the frost risk in Hulan Ergi
Why these dates
Spring sowings feed you through summer; the sowing made twelve weeks before first frost is the one that carries you through winter.
Survives -12C and sweetens markedly below freezing as starches convert to sugars. Frost is a feature of this crop, not a threat.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Kale are timed from 6 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Hulan Ergi.
The median frost-free season here is 162 days, against 55 to 75 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Hulan Ergi
Other vegetables to time
Growing kale in Hulan Ergi
When should I plant kale in Hulan Ergi?
Aim for 13 Apr - 4 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 22 Apr - 13 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will kale be ready to harvest in Hulan Ergi?
Expect to start picking around 7-27 Jun, based on 55 to 75 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will kale tolerate?
Survives -12C and sweetens markedly below freezing as starches convert to sugars. Frost is a feature of this crop, not a threat.