Jeff Favelle November 15th, 2023
As one of the more popular Brassica crops (Brassica oleracea), kale is unique in that we don’t have to wait for a fruiting head to harvest. Unlike your broccoli and cauliflower, kale is simply grown for its lush, sweet foliage.
But what it does have in common with all its cruciferous cousins, is kale tastes infinitely better when harvested in cooler weather. In fact, it also grows better in lower temperatures as well. Less pests, less drought, and less stress from the intense summer heat.
So when we plant our kale has a direct correlation to how it performs for us as well as how it tastes.
Most varieties of kale grown worldwide have a seed-to-harvest time of about 2 months. Leaves can be harvested young and tender, but to get a truly great harvest, you want your kale plants to mature. So if we know when we want to harvest our kale and we know how long it takes to get there, we can simply work backwards to find the best planting date(s) for our plants.
Of which, there are two.
For a spring harvest, its best to plant your kale starts around 1 month before your last spring frost date. This is the calendar date when there is finally less than a 50% chance of a frost occurring that night and signals the start of spring in your garden. Kale is pretty tough though, and in most climates we can plant well-hardened off kale starts as soon as the ground is workable and not frozen solid.
For a fall harvest, its best to plant your kale starts 6 weeks before your first fall frost date. This is the calendar date where there is a greater than 50% chance of frost happening that evening and signals the end of summer in your garden. Basically, you want the kale to be in the ground and growing a month and a half before that date so that you have a big healthy kale plant to harvest leaves from all fall and winter.
Now, like most Brassicas, kale is best grown from starter plants. However, if you decide to just direct seed your kale, work backwards another 3-4 weeks for your planting dates to allow for the extra time for the plants to germinate and get established.
For a quick video on the best times to plant your kale, check out my YouTube channel below!