California has a wonderful climate for growing vegetables, with a whopping 270 days between the last and first frost dates in the season. Plant indoors 3-5 weeks before last frost date. When to Plant Kale. Blue Curled Scotch Kale is a compact plant with very tender, blue-green, crinkled leaves that are quite delicious, very cold hardy, and rich in vitamin A. Kale is a cool-season crop, so you can direct sow in the early spring. California grows about 80% of all fruits and vegetables in the U.S., so California seasons are in many ways national seasons if you're not buying locally elsewhere. I prefer to start indoors and set out larger plants when the time comes to transplant. While we can grow some cool season crops year round (kale and chard come to mind first), this becomes more difficult without the ocean's pronounced influence. That is, you may not be able to get something locally, but even buying nationally keeps you in touch with the hemisphere's seasons, which is … ... Kale Seed $ 2.50 $ 1.75. California produce in season - by month, Natural Resources Defense Council 10 reasons to support farmers markets - CUESA Fresh loquats can sometimes be found in late spring and early summer at San Francisco farmers markets. That way, I can harvest sooner once the gardening season begins. (Photo: Bundles of fresh food are being sorted into individual packages for distribution with the Westside Produce Exchange for redistribution.)