Collards

Collards go in once in spring and hold their ground from June into December, shrugging at heat and improving with frost. One planting, seven months of side dishes.

Growing

Start indoors in April, transplant in May at eighteen inches, and harvest up the stalk, lowest leaves first, so each plant becomes a leggy palm tree of future dinners. Heat that stops lettuce and spinach does not slow them, and hard frost just converts starch to sugar. Feed once in midsummer and keep picking; the December leaves are the best of the year. Do not let August dry them out; leaves built in drought come in thick and leathery and stay that way in the pot.

Varieties

Champion is the compact Vates type that stands cold best; Georgia Southern is the sprawling heirloom with the classic flavor.

Pests

Cabbageworms work collards as hard as any brassica, so the family rules apply: netting at transplant, or weekly underside checks with Bt in reserve. Gray aphid colonies arrive in fall, and water pressure applied early beats them.

In the kitchen

Slow-braised with something smoked until the pot likker is worth bread on its own. Young leaves sliced thin also make a raw slaw that holds its dressing overnight.