Kale - Ornamental Kale

    Brassica oleracea var. sabellica/acephala
Kale has been grown for a very long time. Finds from the Egyptian pyramids show that the kale was highly valued as food as well as decoration. Here in the North it is probably one of the oldest cultivated vegetables. The kales are classified according to height in low, medium and tall sorts.
Kale doesn"™t make a head and the leaves are more or less curly. Its contents of vitamins and minerals are very high making kale a most important autumn- and winter-food for both people and animals. It is classified according to height in low, medium and tall sorts, varying in size from 10 cm to 150 cm. Kale can be grown in most soils but thrives in a soil which is rich in nutrients and moisture-retaining as well with a good supply of phosphorus and potassium. It is the lack of these minerals which causes the leaves to go yellow from the bottom up and then falling off. Read the chapter on growing cabbage-plants for further advice on cultivation.

SOWING: Read the chapter on white cabbage for information on early sowing and how to raise seedlings! Kale is frequently sown directly, about 1 cm deep, after the soil has warmed up a bit until late June.

SPACING: Keep about 50 cm between the plants and 50-60 cm between the rows!

HARVEST: The kale is hardy and with the richest flavour after a few nights of frost, but it is tasty before too. The leaves are harvested gradually during the whole autumn and winter. They can be dried in low heat or frozen after parboiling as well. Kale is mostly used in soups and casseroles.

SEEDS: 200-300/1g, one portion sows 5-10 m or yields 75-150 seedlings after pre-cultivation and 10 g sow 100 m or yield 1000 seedlings.