kale

What can I say about kale that hasn’t already been said?  A friend saw it once in our garden and wondered aloud, “Isn’t that the stuff that grows at the mall?”  Friend or foe, love or hate, kale has a place in most gardens.  Super easy to grow, and easy on the eyes, it serves as winter hardy fare here for us and our hens.  Then after the rigors of winter, it puts forth multiple tender, broccoli-like seed shoots, that we promptly gobble up.

But, like the cabbage, we have some performers and some sissies.  While I harvested yesterday, I took some photos to show the differences in the varieties.  All in the same row, most hardy and a couple a sissies thrown in for good measure.  By starting all the varieties in this planting at the same time and subjecting them to the same growing conditions, I can see who is a keeper and who doesn’t make the grade.

Lacinato (OP) always does well here, but you can see by the white mid-ribs and discoloration on some of the leaves that it did take a beating in our cold December weather.

But, the important thing is that the tip is not damaged, and is beginning to grow a little.  The chickens can utilize the damaged parts, and if I pick a few leaves off of each plant when I harvest, it will continue to grow.

Redbor (F1), I have never been disappointed with this variety and it’s cohort Winterbor (F!)  Prolific and cold hardy, but a hybrid.  The choice is yours.  I grow both, and my views on heirloom seeds and hybrids belong in a post devoted to that subject.

Winterbor (F1), very cold hardy, even more so than Lacinato.  From a distance you don’t see the frost damage, but in this close-up you can see a little discoloration in the leaves.  If I was selling this, these leaves would go to the chickens, but I am not, so I can deal with a little imperfection here.

And here we have White Russian, purportedly very cold hardy.  I will not grow this one anymore for winter use.  It is a waste of my time.  It’s fine for summer, but we hardly eat kale in the summer anyway since we have so many other more greens going at that time.

Lacinato Rainbow from Wild Garden Seed, this one does pretty well, and is as hardy as it’s parents:  Lacinato and Redbor.

A Trapper Creek escapee – looks like a Redbor in the woodpile to me.  I grew kale and cabbage in the same spot here last year, (quick – call the garden rotation police!)  This seedling (and others that did succumb to the cold) came up last fall and survived the weeding, and has thrived.  It tastes pretty good too.

I realized I didn’t take any pictures of the cabbage that didn’t cope so well, so here it is – in all its squishy glory.  So as you can see from these last two posts – variety selection is very important from a self-reliant gardeners standpoint.