Getting my kale to produce through winter ?

[Marb67]

I have these Kale growing in my raised bed but they have never grown any bigger (as usual they grow smaller) all through summer. There are only the 2 of us and I want to keep this kale producing for us through the winter.

What can I do/feed to boost growth- Chicken manure, blood fish and bone or even dig up and plant in greenhouse ?

[Hazel at the Hill]

I think that the thing with kale is to harvest a few leaves at a time, so you do have to be sparing. They will grow more leaves whilst it is mild, but slow down considerably in the cold weather.

I don't think you are going to get a huge amount off those, looking at the photo (most helpful btw) at the moment, but what you will find is that they soon sprout lots of new leaves when the days start to lengthen, so the good news is that in Feb you should find that you are eating lots of tasty new leaves.

I wouldn't bother to lift any of the plants to put in the gh - like all brassicas they like nice firm foundations (I tread mine well in when transplanting) so won't appreciated having their roots disturbed; and they are very hardy, so they won't have a problem with the winter weather.

[Marb67]

Ok, thanks hazel.

[Guest]

I am rubbish at growing brassicas so I am not a lot of help, but nettle feed is meant to be a good feed for leafy veg / producing leaf in plants.

[Marb67]

Great, I have some nettle feed :-)

[kathyd]

When did you sow the seeds Marb? If you want big, strong plants I think you need to sow them at the beginning of the season, in March, and leave them to grow as long as possible. If you want smaller, more tender leaves which you could eat raw in salads, or lightly stir fry, then sow them later for smaller plants. Did everything else in your raised beds grow OK, was it just the kale that didn't grow? I've had loads of problems with things I've sown in pots this year, germinating OK but only reaching a couple of centimetres high, and my tomato crop wasn't as good as it should have been either. I'm blaming the compost, because stuff in the raised beds or the polytunnel has done fine! So maybe you could top up your soil in the beds before you sow next year if the problem is with various things, add lots of compost if you can get it, see if it makes any difference?

[Alison]

Nothing grows over winter, it's too cold and dark so things that are harvested over winter need to be a decent size by now. They should however put on a spurt in spring before bolting (although the flower shoots are very tasty )

[mothhawk]

How many plants have you got in that bed Marb? Going by the size of the plastic container, it looks about a metre square, and I count over 20 plants. That could be the reason your plants don't get any bigger, they are all in competition with each other. In an ideal world (impossible, I know) a brassica likes at least a cubic metre all to itself, then it will grow huge.
HUGE cabbages
If it was my bed, I'd take out everything else and give the kale room to live.
I know it's hard if you only have a very limited growing space (like me) but you have to be ruthless and decide to have a few good strong plants, or a lot of plants that will never grow up.

[greenishfing]

I agree with mothhawk. To get big brassicas they like a square yard of space each and firm soil. Then they go mad. One big strong plant will give more leaves than half a dozen small ones and if firmed in well is less likely to blow over.

[Snow]

Look at the size of those cabbages in mothawks link - that's crazy, it makes those farmers look tiny like children!

[Two_Sheds]

it looks about a metre square, and I count over 20 plants.

My kale is planted 20" apart, seed sown May, seedlings go on the plot July. I'm now picking this much every weekend, and there're loads to come

[kathyd]

My brassicas don't get a square metre I'm afraid, but I do try to leave about 2' between large plants, and less between some smaller cabbages. TS - how big are you plants? Mine are huge, but I sowed them early and I've not started cropping them yet..

[Potstubsdustbins]

I am with Mothhawk on this one far to crowded for the likes of kale.

My kale goes into my dustbins after the spuds have been lifted 1 plant per bin, been harvesting a few weeks now and new green still coming on the stems.

[BertieFox]

The kale I found gave the most prolific and tasty harvest from a late winter sowing was Red Russian. Before, I'd given up on it as not very productive but this year I kept the plants going until they were really large before harvesting. Then we had abundant, tasty and 'nutty' greens for months from late April to June and beyond (admittedly in a tunnel). Other kales are pretty useless during the depths of winter I find but it is for all those new shoots in early to mid spring that we grow kales. I find what the French call 'Chou Forrager' or fodder greens is also a wonderful vegetable for lots of early spring greens.

[Two_Sheds]

TS - how big are you plants?

Hip high, 18"-24" wide at the top

I had lettuce planted around the stems during summer, but they're all gone now