This free kale planting calendar builds a full season plan for kale from your frost dates. Kale is a hardy cool-season crop, started indoors about six weeks before the last frost, transplanted about two weeks before it, or sown directly about four weeks before it. It runs fully in your browser, so nothing you type is sent to a server, and you need no account and no sign-up to use it.
Frost dates are the anchor of vegetable gardening. The last spring frost tells you when tender plants can safely go outside, and the first autumn frost tells you when the season ends. A calendar built on those two dates turns guesswork into a simple list of dates you can act on.
To use the tool, enter your average last frost date, and your average first frost date if you know it. Press the main button and the tool lists every key date for the season at once. If your dates change, update the fields again, and the new calendar shows right away.
Example: with a last frost on 15 April, indoor sowing falls on 4 March, direct sowing on 18 March, transplanting on 1 April, and the first harvest around 26 May, with picking continuing for months.
Tip: let a light frost sweeten kale before you pick. Cold turns starch to sugar in the leaves, so autumn kale often tastes better than summer kale.
Tip: pick lower leaves first and leave the growing tip. Kale cut this way keeps producing new leaves from the top for a very long season.
Tip: protect young kale from caterpillars with netting. Butterflies lay eggs on brassicas, and a simple net stops most damage without any spray.
Common question: Can kale survive winter? In mild climates, yes. Established kale often stands through winter frosts and gives leaves again in spring, making it a long-value crop.
Common question: Why are my kale leaves full of holes? Caterpillars are the usual cause. Check leaf undersides, pick caterpillars off by hand, and cover the plants with netting.
Common question: Do I need to know my exact frost dates? No. Use the average dates for your town. The calendar is a planning guide, and a week either way still gives a good season.
Please note that these dates are a planning guide, not a weather forecast. A late cold snap can still damage tender plants, so watch the forecast in spring and cover plants when frost threatens, even if the calendar says the season has started.
Privacy matters for garden planning too, and this tool is built for that. Everything you enter stays in the browser on your own device. There is no account, no upload, and no shared copy, so your garden plans never travel beyond your own screen.
A good habit is to print or save your calendar at the start of the season and pin it where you plan the garden. Checking dates at a glance beats searching for them again, and a visible plan is one you actually follow through the busy spring weeks.
Start seeds on time, not early. Seeds started too early grow leggy indoors and struggle outside, while seeds started on the calendar date are strong, compact, and ready when the weather is right. Timing matters more than extra weeks indoors.
Keep notes on your own dates through the season. Your garden, your soil, and your microclimate shift the ideal dates a little each year, and your own notes turn a general calendar into a personal one that gets better every season.
This tool is free to use as often as you like. Bookmark it, run it for each crop you grow, and let it carry the date planning while you focus on the garden itself.