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| Photo Credit: Gerald Klingaman |
| Traditional purple leafed curly kale works well in a container, as well as in the border. |
In the beginning there was kale. This attractive edible originated in Asia Minor and the eastern Mediterranean region, where it’s been cultivated for over 4,000 years. From it arose the others – cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, mustard and collards.
While many Americans today are familiar with this cool-season vegetable, few actually eat it. It’s primarily used to adorn the self-service salad bars across the land, displacing other green decorations, thanks to the plant’s wilt resistance. The veggie is actually near the top of the list in terms of nutritional value, containing heart-healthy antioxidants such as beta-carotene, large amounts of vitamins A, C and E, and heavy doses of calcium, potassium and iron. But you don’t have to munch on the plant to gain benefit from it: Purple leafed kales like ‘Redbor’ or ‘Red Russian’ have recently gained prominence in flower beds, where they’re used as a winter annual along with pansies and dianthus in Zone 7 and south. Flowering kale, a closely related plant, is smaller in stature, but forming tight rosettes on the ground rather than upright, leafy growth. It’s more often used as a bedding plant. Both types excellent selections for mixed container plantings as well. | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: Gerald Klingaman | | Green-leafed forms are often grown in the vegetable garden, but they can also be used in flower beds. |
Brassica oleracea var. acephala (curly leafed kale) is a biennial, meaning it has a lifespan of two years. It can grow 2-3 feet tall with thick, usually crinkled, broadly linear, 18-inch-long leaves borne up the stalk at a 45-degree angle. These leaves have a waxy coat and usually come in shades of gray-green or purple. (Collards, a closely related type and the greens of choice in the southern US, have green, more spatulate leaves with little or no crinkling.)
The plant isn’t finicky about soil types, but like most garden vegetables, it grows best in sunny, well-drained, fertile soils. Spring plants can go out six weeks before the frost-free date. In the fall, transplants should be set out in late August. Kale can also be seeded directly into the garden; the fall crop should be planted in August, and the spring crop by late February.
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| Warnings |
- Cabbage loopers (the caterpillar form of a white, 1-inch-wide moth) feed on kale but aren’t as destructive as they are on cabbage. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), an insecticidal bacterium, provides effective control. Apply before the larvae get too large. Larvae will stop feeding as soon as they ingest Bt, but they won’t die for at least 24 hours.
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| Tips |
- Keep harvesting the lower leaves of kale to keep it growing and producing new leaves.
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| Facts |
- Flowering kale is edible, but it’s not as tasty as the curly-leafed varieties.
- Japanese breeders before World War II developed the flowering kales, those forming colorful rosettes of rose or white with open heads.
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| Definitions |
- Biennial: A plant that essentially lives for two years. The first year, a biennial grows a basal rosette – a bunch of circular, short leaves close to the soil’s surface, and flowers aren’t present. The second year the plant should flower, set seed and then die.
- Bolting: The sudden elongation of a flowering stem when a biennial blooms.
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