![]() ![]() One result is quicker picking next time, because all leaves are then good and no grading is needed.It’s a quick job – just push down on any ageing bottom leaves, then put them on the compost heap. Or you may be picking so regularly that no leaves grow old and yellow, or are much damaged by pests. Or even before that, if slugs are not a potential problem. Spread straw in the quite wide spaces between each plant, as soon as they are in the ground. But in drier climates, it’s worthwhile and feasible. In my temperate climate, I never do this. Also, leaves are more tender and glossy, often really beautiful. Then, with new rain in late summer, growth suddenly takes off again.Kale puts up well with dry conditions, it just grows fewer new leaves and they are tougher!.Beyond that, it’s a balance of weather and how much new growth you want. ![]() You are transplanting mostly in summer, so give plenty of water at that stage and for a week after if the weather is dry. My old one has dianthus (Sweet William) growing around its roots, with gorgeous flowers every year in early summer. It needs space to root and to recline in time. For home consumption, one plant should suffice. Perennial kale can be 60 cm/24 in apart, but this is relevant only for market gardens. A spacing halfway between gives many medium-sized leaves and several months of harvest. Space plants according to the size of leaves you desire, from 22 cm/9 in for salad kale, up to 45 cm/18 in for large leaves. The upper surface of each rootball can be 5–7 cm /2–3in below surface level. When transplanting modules, wiggle the dibber in each hole for more width and, above all, for depth.īury stems to give plants stability in wind.Usually you transplant three to four weeks after sowing.Leaves then change back to a healthy green. Even if you leave them too long in modules or pots, such that their leaves turn pink and purple from lack of nitrogen, they go ‘dormant’ and cease growing for a while until transplanted. In Zone 10 climates, such as Florida and parts of India, kale’s best harvest season is winter, because it likes the temperatures and there are hopefully fewer insects.They are especially worth growing under cover, unless your climate is warm. Late summer sowing gives smaller plants at closer spacing – good for salad leaves in the winter months.Sowings in late spring to early summer give abundant leaves from late summer, through autumn less and less, and then probably until spring.You can have a few new leaves until the following spring, in milder winters. Harvests are abundant in summer then reduce through autumn. Sowings before mid-spring give kale throughout summer, generally for cooking because leaves grow larger and are less tender in heat.Choose a sowing time according to the size of the leaves you desire and when you want them, as I now explain. Sowing commences in March/early spring and continues to be possible at any time through the following six months. ![]() Lettuce, Red Russian kale and purple sprouting broccoli, sown in June – I shall scatter a little compost over the seeds Sowing time Simply cut off the two tender sides and discard the stalk for compost. Most kale leaves have a fibrous stalk up their middle.
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