Krazy Kale

As the cold weather sets in, the cool weather crops come out. Once the weather began dropping into the 40’s during the night, I cleared my annual bed and began to prepare it for the fall crops. One of the things I often grow (but don’t always eat unless I remember) is kale (Brassica oleracea). This scientific plant name includes cabbages, collards, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts, and kale is considered a leaf cabbage cultivar.

It is grown as a cool weather crop because of two reasons: It is tolerant of cold temperatures that would otherwise kill other leafy vegetables (surviving down to -10 degrees Fahrenheit), and because it can’t tolerate the heat. Many brassica vegetables are biennial (often grown as annuals), which means they will die in their second year after flowering and producing seed. The heat makes them bolt and the plants stop producing leafy greens and instead produce spindly growths for flowering. Hot weather also makes them bitter and tough. Kale that has gone through a frost are said to be particularly sweet.

They like their soil fertile, slightly acidic (pH between 5.5 and 6.8), and well drained, in full sun. The autumn sun shouldn’t bother it nor give it too much heat, but during hot months, should you grow them, they’ll need some shade and protection.

It is otherwise low maintenance, and provides nutritious dark greens throughout most of the winter months where I’m located. While it can easily survive the low temperatures of Long Island, where it seldom gets before 20 degrees Fahrenheit, growth slows during extended periods of cold which picks up again once spring arrives.

I keep it in the ground until early May, when it gets switched out with the other heat loving annuals like tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers.

When I collect it, I don’t collect the leaves from the outer areas of each plant, leaving the inner, terminal bud alone so it continues to produce.