It’s the end of October and frost is coming. You’ve got kale in your garden and you’re wondering if you should harvest it before the cold weather sets in or can it survive frost.
Can Kale Survive Frost?
Kale is a hardy vegetable that can survive frost. However, frost may damage kale leaves, especially if it’s exposed to the cold for several days. The temperature of your garden soil affects how much damage kale will suffer from freezing temperatures. A temperature of 30-50 degrees Fahrenheit is considered ideal for growing kale and other vegetables in containers.
When planting kale seeds directly into your garden soil, you can expect new growth within three weeks of planting them outdoors during spring or summer months (or six weeks during fall).
In colder weather, though, kales don’t begin producing new leaves until temperatures rise above 50 degrees F (10 C). If there’s an extended period of below-50 degree F weather during these times—which often happens in areas where winter temperatures drop below freezing regularly—you may not see any new growth until next spring or early summer!
How Tolerant Is Kale To Cold Weather
As a hardy vegetable, kale is able to withstand cold weather. It can be grown in areas where the temperature drops down to -5 degrees Celsius. Even when it’s as low as -15 degrees or even -20 degrees Celsius, kale will still be able to grow. If you live in an area that gets winters with temperatures below 0°C (32°F), you may want to grow your kale under cover so that it doesn’t get frozen.
If you have the room and means for protecting your plants from frost damage, then growing kale outdoors during winter months is possible!
How To Protect Your Kale From Frost
Kale can be damaged by frost, but there are a few ways you can protect it. If the temperature is going to drop below freezing, you can cover your kale plants with a frost blanket to keep them warmer than the air around them. Once temperatures rise again, you’ll be able to take off the blanket and continue on with life as normal!
Another option is bringing your kale inside where it will be protected from an early frost. This will allow your kale plants to stay alive until spring arrives and they’re ready for planting outside again. If taking care of this type of plant isn’t something you want to deal with during the winter months, try placing them in a cool room—that way they’ll still grow but won’t freeze until temperatures rise above freezing outside!
Caring For Kale During The Winter
Winter is a great time to grow kale, but you need to make sure that yours is getting the care it needs.
Kale is a hearty plant that can tolerate cold weather, but it’s still a leafy green, and like all greens, it needs regular water and nutrients to grow.
Here are some tips for caring for your kale during the winter months:
1. Water regularly—about once every other day will do the trick! If you’re in an area that gets less than 30 inches of rain per year, you may want to supplement with some extra watering.
2. Fertilize once a month with an organic fertilizer such as compost or kelp meal. This will help keep your kale growing strong through the winter months!
3. Protect from frost—if your plants are in danger of getting frosted by temperatures that drop below 40°F at night, consider covering them with an insulating material like straw or leaves. This will help protect them from the cold weather while still allowing enough light through to keep growing strong!
What Temperatures Will Kill Kale?
Kale can withstand cold temperatures, but it won’t survive freezing. The ideal temperature for kale is between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Kale will die if exposed to temperatures below 25 degrees Fahrenheit for more than 24 hours, or below 15 degrees for any amount of time. Kale plants that were established in the spring can handle a light frost as long as it doesn’t last too long or get much colder than 5 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you think your kale might be affected by frost, there are steps you can take before it happens:
- Plant them earlier in the season so they’ll have more time to grow and mature before winter hits
- Put mulch over them to insulate them from harsh winds and extreme heat (but don’t cover the crowns)
Can I Overwinter Kale?
Yes, you can overwinter kale. Kale is a hardy plant that can survive the cold. As long as you’re careful and take good care of it and protect it from pests, your kale will be just fine over the winter and come back strong in the spring.
Kale is one of those crops that’s very forgiving of neglect—it doesn’t need much water or attention to keep growing, so even if you forget about it for a few weeks during winter, it won’t die on you!
This makes overwintering kale quite easy: just plant some new seeds when your current plants die back for the season, then cover them up with mulch or straw once they stop producing new leaves (this will help them from freezing).
If there are still some leaves left on the plants at this point but nothing else is happening around them anymore (i.e., no flowers or new sprouts), consider transplanting those leaves into another part of your garden where they can continue growing into next year using their own roots instead of having any kind of root system left behind after digging them up.
Conclusion
And that’s why we can say with confidence that kale will survive frost. Kale is a hardy plant that’s great for growing in the winter, and it’s especially well-suited for areas with cold winters.
