Getting my kale to produce through winter ?

[Zelenina]

What do you fertilise your garden with, marb? I seem to remember you saying you gather horse poo from passing horses, but do you use anything else? That kind of poo will provide only a small amount of nutrients, plus a bit of organic matter. The main value of traditional horse manure is the inclusion of the urine-soaked stable bedding, which is high in nitrogen among other things. Green leafy veggies particularly need nitrogen. You could try sprinkling around some chicken manure pellets, which have high N levels. Or use some home produced golden liquid, but it needs to be diluted, or mixed into your compost heap where it will help to speed up the composting.

[Marb67]

I don't feed with horse manure. Not sure where you got that from unless you read a post from last year where I found some in the road and was going to use it ? I then declined in case of pesticides etc.

I have however used urine almost once a week and it has had a feeding chicken manure pellets. All to no avail. I just need to grow a variety that will produce through winter and ideal for a small space.

[Zelenina]

Another question. Do you know the pH of your soil? Most veggies don't like acid soil (low pH), and brassicas in particular prefer it a bit alkaline (high pH). You can get a general idea of the pH in your locality by seeing what grows in your neighbours' gardens, e.g. if there are rhododendrons, azaleas and blue hydrangeas it's acid. But it can vary quite a lot over a small area, so it's better to get a pH test kit and test your own soil in different parts of your garden. If it turns out to be low, you'll need to lime it, except for acid loving plants like blueberries. If you come back with the results of your testing I'm sure the experts here will give you more exact info on what to do.

[Zelenina]

Ok, I just saw your answer about the horse manure. Yes it was that post I read. Well I'm trying to eliminate possible problems one by one. So maybe lack of nitrogen is not it. My kale patch has plenty of kale at the moment, and we probably had a colder spell than you did, so cold weather is probably not the problem either. We've mentioned the spacing and overharvesting before. I have lots of kale plants of different varieties, and only me to eat it, so it gets very lightly harvested. The varieties I recommend the most for productivity, hardiness and taste are Pentland Brig and Westland Winter. Thousand-headed is also very productive and hardy but the plants are big and I think less tasty.

[Zelenina]

The other green veggie that I have a lot of at the moment is lamb's lettuce. That could be a good one for you. I let it self-seed last spring and then the seeds stayed dormant until the cool weather in autumn, then loads of it came up all over the place, and it's very winter hardy. So I'll probably have it every winter now without paying it much attention. The variety is Holländischer Breitblättriger, or Dutch Long-leaved in English.

[Marb67]

Thanks, I will order those Kale you mentioned. I think I am having a re-design of my garden space. Got 2 raised bed kits from Aldi (bargain) and will try and place them more in sun. Never tested the ph but the soil in my garden is so mixed up from used compost etc I have no idea. I never used to be able to grow viburnum or rhodos so perhaps lacking in acid. Will get a kit and see.

Looking on Ebay there seem to be some good prices for see. One that looks interesting is Red Russian. Any good ?

All I want to do is produce a lot of healthy, organic leafy veg for salad and cooking for as long a season as possible.

[Alison]

I just need to grow a variety that will produce through winter and ideal for a small space.

I know we've said it before but nothing produces during the dead of winter so you'll never succeed with that aim. You can harvest but only what has grown prior to winter setting in so you need a plant sufficiently big in autumn and then pick selectively as said on several posts.

[veggiechicken]

All I want to do is produce a lot of healthy, organic leafy veg for salad and cooking for as long a season as possible.

Have you tried microgreens? They tick your boxes

[Bren In Pots]

Thanks for the reminder VC I've now got 3 half tray trays of microgreens, I've done mixed lettuce, swede, celery and beetroot.

[Marb67]

Sorry but I still can't get my head round why they are shrinking to miniature plants with scabby leaves. It doesn't make sense

[veggiechicken]

If they were mine, I'd compost them.

[bario1]

Chuck them, Marb, and start off some new ones now. If you get them big enough by September and don't harvest too much too early, they might stand a better chance of making it through the winter.... but you're never going to have masses of healthy new growth at this time of year, kale just doesn't work like that!

[Marb67]

I will do but wanting to get young leaves for salad as I don't waste anything and there is nothing to pick as yet because all still young seedlings. The whole bed is being pulled apart and the bricks used elsewhere and in it's place will be 2 x square wooden raised bed kits from Aldi. I will try and place them a few inches nearer where the sun is most of the day.

[Greenleaves]

Have you tried Black Tuscany Marb? If you are planting in two raised beds you can sow one for salad leaves and let the others develop for winter.

I find this variety very nice in a salad.

[Marb67]

Thanks, I will have a look at getting some.