New York · zones 5a–7b
When to plant kale in New York.
Sow or transplant between Mar 23 to Apr 20 in a typical year, keyed to New York's median last frost around Apr 30. A second, fall sowing fits Jul 18 to Sep 2. Dates below are state medians; your ZIP code shifts them by days to weeks.
The 2026 windows
Kale dates for a typical New York season.
1 · Start indoors
Feb 9 to Mar 9
About 6 weeks before set-out. Warm spot, real light.
2 · Set out
Mar 23 to Apr 20
Keyed to the ~Apr 30 last frost. Sow 0.25" deep, 16" apart.
Fall round
Jul 18 to Sep 2
Counted back from the ~Oct 18 first frost.
Harvest
~45 days later
~2 lb per plant over ~16 weeks.
New York spans more than one climate: Zone 7 is the most common zone, but the state runs 5a to 7b. That's why the planner works from your ZIP code's frost dates, not your zone: mountain and coastal gardens in the same state can be three weeks apart.
New York growing notes
Kale transplants into New York on two separate dates a year, and the fall planting is the one that keeps giving, still standing in the bed after most everything else this state grows has quit for the year.
A transplant, not a sowing list
Unlike the direct-sown greens that fill this state's calendar with a dozen staggered sowings, kale goes in as a transplant set a wide 16 inches apart, reaching harvest in about 45 days. That spacing looks generous next to a lettuce or spinach row, but a kale plant grown for months of repeat cutting spreads out more than a crop cut once and pulled, and a mature plant yields around 2 pounds of leaf over its life, the heaviest per-plant return of any leafy crop grown here.
The calendar allows two separate transplant windows, one in spring and another in mid-to-late summer for a fall crop, rather than the long sowing lists a quicker crop gets, since one transplanting keeps producing leaves for cutting over months instead of needing replacement every few weeks. The spring window carries a real risk particular to how early gardeners here tend to push it: a young transplant set out while a late cold snap is still likely can read that cold spell as a winter it already lived through, and bolt to flower by midsummer on a plant that's really still a seedling by age.
Why the fall planting is the one worth building around
The fall-set planting is the one that keeps giving longest, since kale tolerates cold better than almost anything else grown here and keeps producing leaves well past when a spring planting has already toughened up and quit. Growers picking the latest harvests, into the weeks when frost is a regular overnight visitor, do better with a variety bred for that cold specifically, like Winterbor or Red Russian, over a milder-climate type that gives out earlier.
The flavor shift through that cold is worth confirming yourself rather than taking on faith. Pull a leaf in early fall before the real cold arrives and taste it, then pull one from the same plant weeks later, after the planting has been through several hard mornings, and taste that one too. Most gardeners describe the later leaf as rounder and milder than the first, less of the raw, peppery bite the same plant gave off in warm weather, a difference plain enough once you've tasted both side by side.
Reading frass, guarding the stem, and a curly-leaf tradeoff
Cabbage worms and loopers get eaten a leaf at a time here, since kale is picked as individual leaves, so the practical check happens at picking: ragged, irregular holes plus small dark green droppings on the leaf are the giveaway even when the caterpillar itself, colored to match the leaf, is nowhere in sight. A quick rinse and a look at both sides of each leaf as you pick catches what a glance at the bed from a few feet away misses. Cabbage root maggot targets the stem and roots at transplanting, when a young plant's root system is smallest and most exposed; a simple collar, a stiff paper or cardboard circle fitted snugly around the stem at the soil line, blocks the adult fly from laying eggs there.
Black rot shows as yellow, V-shaped lesions pointing inward from the leaf margin, and the confirming test is cutting into a blackened leaf vein near one of those lesions: vein tissue that reads dark and discolored inside, not just on the surface, means the bacteria have moved into the plant's plumbing, and that leaf should come off before it spreads to the next one. Aphids and flea beetles round out the list, and leaf shape changes how much trouble aphids cause: a tightly curled variety like Winterbor traps them deep in the folds where a hose can't reach, while a flatter type like Lacinato leaves them exposed on an open leaf face that rinses clean in one pass.
In New York: watch for
The pests that find kale here.
A middle-length season, about 171 frost-free days, means kale overlaps cabbage worms & loopers for a stretch each summer. Check plants every week or two and treat early.
Green caterpillars chewing ragged holes; green droppings.
Organic fix: Handpick, cover with netting, spray Bt.
Gray-green clusters tucked into the leaf folds.
Organic fix: Blast with water, then insecticidal soap.
Tiny holes peppering the young leaves.
Organic fix: Row cover from day one; diatomaceous earth.
Black rot
Yellow V-shaped wedges cutting in from the leaf edge, veins blackening inside.
Organic fix: Pull infected plants, water at the base, keep brassicas out of that bed 3 years.
Seedlings wilt, yellow and stall for no reason; white maggots tunnel the roots.
Organic fix: Row cover before the flies are up, when yellow rocket blooms; rotate the bed.
Your season math: New York gives kale about 171 frost-free days, and it needs roughly 45 days to a first harvest. It's a one-planting crop, so time that single sowing well.
Planting kale in New York: questions
When should I plant kale in New York?+
In a typical New York year, sow kale or set out transplants between Mar 23 to Apr 20, keyed to the state's median last frost around Apr 30. There's also a fall window: Jul 18 to Sep 2. Your exact dates shift with your ZIP code and microclimate.
When do I start kale seeds indoors in New York?+
Start seeds inside about 6 weeks before set-out: roughly Feb 9 to Mar 9 for a typical New York season.
What USDA zone is New York?+
New York spans zones 5a–7b, mostly zone 7. But frost dates, not zones, set planting time. The free planner uses your ZIP code's actual frost dates.
How many kale plants do I need?+
Depends who you're feeding. The crop page has exact counts per household size, or the free planner does the math for your family in about 60 seconds.