Brassicas
Kale (incl. Dino)
Cut outer leaves; best after frost.
- Indoors
- 6 wk (early Apr) spring; July for fall
- Outside
- Transplant
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun; takes part shade
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July; a dry spell toughens leaves
- Harvest
- Continuous, best after frost
Care
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July and August, every 5 to 7 in spring and fall. A long soak at the base until the top few inches are wet, then let it dry before the next. Kale forgives a dry spell better than its cousins, but the leaves toughen and turn bitter.
- Sow
- In cells in early April for spring, again in July for fall: 2 seeds a quarter inch deep per cell, keep the stronger. Set plants a foot to eighteen inches apart in the bed, rows two to three feet apart.
- Start inside
- No heat mat; at room temperature they sprout in 1 to 2 weeks. Under the lights as they break ground, 14 to 16 hours. Harden off and set out in May; a touch of spring or fall frost does kale no harm.
- Feed
- A shovel of compost or castings worked in at planting starts the bed. Kale is a hungry leaf crop, so side-dress with Garden-tone, up to a third cup a plant, once it stands four inches tall, and again if the leaves pale.
- Ready
- Cut the outer leaves once they are hand-sized and leave the center working; the plant runs for months that way. Sweetest after the first hard frosts.
- Trouble
- Cabbageworms on the leaf undersides: handpick or net from planting, Bt for an outbreak. Gray aphid colonies on fall plants: a hard water blast a few days running. Tough, strong leaves: a dry stall, keep it even.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 5–7 gal bag.
- Water
- Daily in July and August; bags dry far faster than a bed. 30 to 40 sec on the shower dial until it runs from the seams.
- Feed
- Top-dress monthly; every watering leaches the bag.
- Sow
- One plant per bag.
The longest-running crop on the calendar: kale picked from June straight through December snow. Spring plants carry the summer, and a July round grows the sweet after-frost leaves that are the real reason to bother.
Growing
Start indoors in early April, six weeks ahead, and transplant out in May; kale takes light frost at either end of the season without complaint. A foot apart in the bed, or one to a 5 to 7 gal bag. Start a second round in July for fall, which yields cleaner, sweeter leaves once the cold arrives. Harvest outer leaves and leave the center working; a plant treated this way runs for months. If leaves pale midseason, feed it; it is a hungry leaf crop and wants the nitrogen. Water is a texture question: kale survives an August drought without drama and then makes you chew the consequences.
Varieties
Lacinato is the Dino on the card: dark, savoyed, best texture of the lot. Winterbor supplies cold-proof volume, and Red Russian gives tender leaves for salads.
Pests
Imported cabbageworms arrive as soon as the white butterflies do; check leaf undersides weekly and squish, or keep the planting under insect netting from day one. Gray colonies of cabbage aphids tuck into fall plants; a hard hose blast repeated a few days running usually ends it. Flea beetles pinhole spring seedlings, but transplants outgrow the damage.
In the kitchen
Raw and massaged when the leaves are young, braised with garlic when they are not, and chips whenever the oven is on anyway. December kale cut from under snow is the sweetest of the year.