Everyone knows about Kale. It has blown up as the super-vegetable, power green, and overall champion of the edible plant kingdom. Grocery stores now stock multiple kinds, from red to curly kale. While kale is slightly bitter as most dark leafy greens are, it can easily be made sweet and quite delicious in a salad or simply sautéed with some garlic and olive oil. So, you know about kale. But do you how to grow it? Follow my kale growing journey, from seed to your mouth.
I only recently started growing kale, and two years ago I had an abundance of kale! At the time, my kale patch was about 2'x4' and I never thinned out the kale seedlings when they popped so they were overcrowded. It didn't stop them from producing all summer long. That was the summer I really fell in love with kale, and from then on I put it in just about everything! You can imagine how excited I was last year, when spring rolled around and it was time to get my kale patch up and running. I doubled the size of the patch, and eagerly planted the seeds. To my dismay, my kale plants never grew over 3-4 inches no matter what I tried! My fellow gardening friends in my area all had the same problem. Apparently last year was not the year of the kale. But this year it is, I'm calling it. I got a kale patch that's about 15'x8', and I expect to have four foot tall plants with enough kale to feed a small army!
Kale is a cold hardy plant so you can plant it in the fall and early spring, giving it a longer growing season which is good news for kale lovers like myself! This year, my dad and I planted two types of kale: lacinato kale (which I usually call dino kale), and curly kale. We started the large kale seedlings indoors in early March, then dropped them in the ground two weeks ago. They are doing surprisingly well after the giant flood and being surrounded by clay. The seeds started indoors were nowhere near enough to fill the large kale plot, so I dropped the rest of the seeds in the ground. To plant the seeds, I dug a small hole, about 3-4 inches deep and 3-4 inches wide, and watered the bottom to saturate the soil. I put about 15 inches in between each circle. Next, I filled the hole with garden soil and mixed the two different types of soil together. After gently patting down the top to make it flat, I placed 4-5 seeds spaced out in each hole and covered them with 1/2 inch of more garden soil. Then, I watered them, and that was that. Nice and easy.
Once the seeds are planted, there is not much left to do but water and wait. Water the seeds (and seedlings) once a day unless you get rain. Eventually, you will start to water the kale less and less to force the root system to grow deep and strong, however I like to keep the seedlings moist to ensure they make it out of the baby stage. Another thing to remember is that kale grows fairly large, so once your seedlings pop, you eventually need to prune them out so only one or two are left per circle. Don't have a backyard garden? Not a problem. Kale is a great plant to grow in a pot on a deck or even inside by a window. Plant, prune, and water the same way to enjoy kale within an arm's length of your kitchen! This year I plan on doing a second kale planting late in summer so I have kale well into fall. For now, I'll worry about getting my spring kale up and running!
I can't talk about growing kale without sharing one or two amazing kale recipes, found at my other blog, Margaret's Dish. Two of my favorite kale recipes are garlic and ginger kale and kale and walnut pesto. Both showcase kale and can easily be paired with many dishes to complete a healthy and tasty meal.
Kale is high in the minerals iron and calcium, as well as the vitamins A, C, and K. It is also packed with antioxidants, omega-3's, and is a great anti-inflammatory. To top it all off, kale is low in calories and high in fiber, meaning it's filling without filling out your jeans. So eat up! Get those seeds in the ground, and while you are waiting for them to grow, make some delicious recipes from Margaret's Dish!
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