Getting my kale to produce through winter ?

[ZsaZsa]

I grew the Cavolo Nero variety, starting them off in April in cell trays, planting them out in June into a rich, limed soil (I used some agricultural gypsum as well as a little calcified seaweed with a little BFB), firmed them in well. Forgot to cover them and the pesky pigeons stripped off all the leaves. I then covered them and they came to life. And produced the most beautiful crop that survived the winter and even a second pigeon attack!

[Marb67]

Kale getting smaller

Well I thought Kale was supposed to supply leaf greens throughout the winter months but even with this mild season mine are still shrinking. Very tiny leaf growth and some even flowering ! Not so long ago I was harvesting big leaves which gave me hope for winter. Not so

just look at the difference between September and today. Absolutely pathetic. Probably would be worse if the weather was not so mild. I give in.

[Guest]

Just thought I would link an old thread incase there were any tips or tricks you could try http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ter_82544.html

[Marb67]

Sorry, I had forgot about that thread. Thanks. Might just grow 1 or 2 plants next season and get more off them.

[Zelenina]

Hi Marb. The first problem I see is that you have rather a lot of plants crowded together in a small space. They would grow stronger if they had more room.

The second problem is that I think you are harvesting them too heavily. The leaves act as the engines of plant growth by gathering energy from the sun. If you keep picking off most of the leaves they don't have any way of getting enough energy to grow more leaves. It's a bit of a balancing act to harvest enough but not too much. If you mainly want kale in the late winter and spring when not much else is available, then I suggest you stop harvesting now and give them a chance to grow stronger. If you really need to eat kale now, then harvest more lightly. Maybe leave some of the bigger older leaves to photosynthesize and only pick a few of the smaller ones. Or leave a few plants completely unpicked and see if that makes a difference.

Another point is, which variety are you growing? I'm not sure from the photos. There are many varieties of kale and some might grow better for you than others.

[Marb67]

I sowed them from a multi variety pack so not too sure. One is the Italian nero and the other seems to have more jagged leaf with natural holes.

[veggiechicken]

Just thought I would link an old thread incase there were any tips or tricks you could try http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ter_82544.html

I've merged the 2 threads to simplify things!

[alldigging]

Mine are in good health with plenty of leaves but I've not overpicked them. I've left all the big leaves on.

If you want a long season from kale I think you have to have many more plants. You can't keep picking until there's nothing left, they need lots of leaves to photosynthesise at this time of year - if there's enough light and warmth for them to do it.

BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Factors affecting photosynthesis

Mine is daubenton and the nero stuff. I prefer the daubenton and will be taking cuttings in spring to get more plants.

[bearded bloke]

Yep, looks like over-harvesting to me as well maybe try a border of perpetual spinach as a cut 'n come again crop, you would get about 20 plants around that bed.

[Marb67]

I have a few spinnach in the greenhouse boarder but they haven't got any bigger in weeks and weeks. Ditto for rocket and other leaf salad like spicy salad. The sun starts to hit our back garden by about Feb but to be fair it has been warm enough to grow and daylight is daylight weather full sun or not.

[alldigging]

Winter plants do their growing before winter.
They will continue to grow slowly if they are well established by the time winter sets in. But slowly is the word.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I am struggling with my curly kale this year, think I was a little late starting it off.

[Marb67]

So I am being advised I have too many Kale plants in a small space as well as having too little. I can't win.

[Zelenina]

Well, there's the number of plants you'd need to grow to provide enough to feed your kale-loving family without buying any in the shops. And then there's the number of plants you can grow well in the area available at the recommended spacing distances, which are usually on the seed packet.

Unfortunately those two numbers don't always match. Some possibilities for solving that problem: Give over more of your garden to kale instead of other veggies. Spread your kale plants out much more, then grow other summer veggies between them while they are still fairly small. Grow your kale plants crowded together in the summer then transplant them into more space when spuds, tomatoes etc are finished. Grow some plants in containers.

I once grew a kale variety called Fizz that looked like that jagged leaved one of yours, and there's a similar one called Jagolo Nero. I don't think they are the most vigorous varieties, and maybe more intended for baby salad leaves than serious amounts of winter food. Some of my favourite varieties that produce lots of kale but are still reasonably compact are Pentland Brigg, Vates Blue Curled and Westland Winter. Maybe you'd have more success with those, though they still need more spacing than you're giving them. Thousand-headed and similar types are very vigorous and productive, but they are big plants that take up a lot of room.

[Zelenina]

I sowed them from a multi variety pack so not too sure. One is the Italian nero and the other seems to have more jagged leaf with natural holes.

If it was the Suttons kale mixture, then the jagged one is Fizz, which was bred specially for salad leaves, and is probably not the best one for you. I think it might also be less hardy in the winter than other kinds.

I see from previous posts that you also tried a red kale which looks like a variety called Scarlet, which is the weakest wimpiest kale I ever grew. I tried it from two different suppliers with the same result. Not even good germination. So I think a good part of your problem is not growing suitable varieties. I think if you had just four plants of the ones I mentioned, well spread out in that bed, you'd have plenty of kale.