How To Grow Kale
2011-02-19 at 12:10 pm pshipley
How To Grow Kale
Welcome to our simple to follow guide on How To Grow Kale.
Growing kale is relatively straight forward and easy to do. Kales are grown as either annuals or biennials dependant on the variety, there are dwarf (30-40cm) and tall (90cm) varieties. The plants produce leaves from a basal stem, the leaves can be plain or curly and there are curly-plain hybrids. They are very hardy plants and can survive temperatures of -15C, and some will tolerate high temperatures. Kales are also very disease resistant.
Soil For Growing Kale
A fertile well drained soil with medium levels of nitrogen should be ideal.
Sowing and Growing Kale From Seed
Some people buy in vegetable plants as mini plants, but for those of you who want to know how to grow kale from seed then it is very simple.
Kale seed can be sown in early spring for summer crops and late spring for later autumn / winter crops.
Kales can be sown in trays or pots in a greenhouse, or coldframe (useful for starting plants early when it is still cold outside or a risk of hard frost and ice), or sow them outdoors in seed beds and then transplant later to their final growing position in the vegetable garden, or just simply sow the seed directly in situ where you want them to actually grow and thin out as required to keep the correct spacing between the plants.
Space dwarf varieties about 40cm apart when transplanting out and taller varieties up to 80cm apart.
Over-wintered crops will benefit from a nitrogen rich feed in the springtime which will encourage new growth. In heavy winters, although hardy, it may be advisable to give some protection.
Whilst growing kale, water if required, keep weeds down by hoeing being careful not to damage the plants and watch out for pests and disease.
Harvesting and Storing Kale
Knowing how to grow kale and growing kale is one thing, but you also need to know how and when to harvest the kale and how to store it too.
Early kales can be harvested as large seedlings as they have good flavour, or thin them and cut when they reach a height of 15cm. Leave the stumps which will re-sprout and produce another crop.
Sowing to cropping will however normally take 8 weeks, but plants can be left in the ground for a long time without harvesting. Take leaves as needed during autumn and winter and this will encourage more growth.
Pick shoots prior to flowering in the spring. Kale is good for freezing.
Ornamental Kales
Ornamental varieties of kale are grown mainly for winter decoration and colour but are are also used for garnishing salads. Leaves of these varieties can be variegated green, white, purple or red.
Thank you for reading our simple How To Grow Kale guide. Why not check out our other vegetable growing guides from the menu on the right side of the page. Good luck growing Kale!