Winter Vegetables – Kale is High on My List
Winter vegetables like kale are great plants for maintaining a do-it-yourself year round food supply.
If you’ve been following this green thumb winter vegetables series, you will have heard me speak about kale as one of the most cold hardy vegetables we could hope to grow. Now I want to help you become a bit more familiar with kale as a type of green that you’ll likely enjoy growing and eating. First off, you have to like greens. If you don’t, you won’t like cooked kale, but perhaps you’ll like kale chips.
Anyway, let’s get to know kale a bit better. I don’t want to say it’s my favorite crop, but I planted four barrels of kale and I’m the only one who enjoys it, so it’s clear I have southern blood in me.
I’m at least a wanna-be southern boy, being that I’m about halfway there – I’ve got a dog, a truck, and a garden full of greens.
There are many varieties of kale. I’m fond of growing two types – Russian Red and Winterbor. I think the Russian Red has better flavor, but the Winterbor is a prolific producer, stands up to all day cooking, and is a bit more hardy in very cold weather. In the photo upper left, that’s me with an couple of good handfuls of Winterbor kale. In the photo lower right, the Russian Red kale is on the right.
Winter vegetables like kale can be grown in the ground or in raised beds like these half steel barrels inside a unheated homemade greenhouse.
There are also texture differences between the two varieties. If you’re looking for an attractive garnish, Winterbor is the way to go. It has nice curled leaves.
If you’re looking for something to shred and add to your fresh salad, either kind will be a welcome addition, especially if you shred it finely. Either of the varieties make for a good pot of steamed greens, or as an addition to a hardy soup or stew.
Just remember to cut out the heavy stem as your first step in preparation. The Winterbor in particular has a very fibrous stem – one that only a goat would love.
I like the harvesting advantages of the Winterbor variety as it grows taller as you snip off the lower leaves from the central stem. By the time winter sets in, my Winterbor kale is between two and three feet tall with a thick stem that shows lots of places where leaves had been removed during the summer harvest season. It’s really amazing, what starts out under the protection of a makeshift bell jar in March, can only be offered a second layer of protection with large plastic sheets or clear 55-gallon drum liners by the time November rolls around.
Both varieties are “cut and come again” plants much like romaine lettuce, Swiss chard, celery and other plants that either grow out from a central stalk or are stimulated to produce more edible portions when you harvest. If you like lots of greens for the summer, fall and well into the winter, plant a half dozen kale plants, and give them about three feet between each one. When mature, they’ll shade out anything underneath them and provide you with a continuous supply of fresh greens.
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Clair Schwan enjoys his home vegetable garden, be it in outdoor garden beds or inside the comfort and protection of his own homemade greenhouse. Even though his greenhouses are unheated, he grows many types of winter vegetables well into the coldest months of the year for an extended harvest. He recognizes that growing vegetables is an important way to save money, control your own food supply, and be a bit more self sufficient.
This article was featured on a blog carnival at Appalachian Feet.
7 Responses to “Winter Vegetables – Kale is High on My List”
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Kale is lovely – I’m particularly fond of Lacinato and Red Russian. I haven’t tried Winterbor yet – but will need to do that.
Here in Tejas we can overwinter it, but an unheated greenhouse* can manage to keep it all winter long. (I love what Eliot Coleman has to say on that stuff, and we just published a little blog on my site about building your own greenhouse.)
I have some experience with greenhouse building ( http://www.frugal-living-freedom.com/build-your-own-greenhouse.html ) since they are a necessity here in dry and windy Wyoming. Our season is short and the climate dries out the plants. A greenhouse doubles the yield for anything I plant.
Interesting post..I haven’t grown kale before, but I do like greens!
Did you make the half steel barrels in the photo above?
Rebecca, yes, I cut the steel barrels myself. They’re old barrels that a water-based primer came in, and I get them at no charge from the local bumper painting business. I unbolt the top and cut out the bottoms using a plasma cutter. This removes most of the paint residue that settles to the bottom. Then, I build a fire in them to burn out what little paint material is left. After that, it’s back to the plasma cutter to shorten them to half-height.
The same thing can be done with a reciprocating saw, but it’s much more labor intensive and very noisy. As an alternative, they could be left at full height (3 feet) as the moist soil would add a tremendous amount of thermal mass to a greenhouse. I’m planning to do this with barrels that will be added to the north side of the greenhouse.
The only words of caution I have about steel barrels is to be aware that they will have sharp edges, no matter how well they are cut. Also, be mindful that the accelerated growth they promote by gaining heat in the spring is reversed in the fall as the extra surface area above ground disperses trapped energy faster. My suggestion is that most winter vegetables should be sown in at ground level so they’re immersed in the largest thermal mass possible – the earth. This also makes it easier to place a row cover over them.
Hi Clair; If you like Kale, have you tried Cavolo Nero – sometimes called Black Kale? I’m very keen on it because it has both culinary and decorative qualities. See http://marksvegplot.blogspot.com/2010/09/cavolo-nero.html
P.S. Discovered you blog via Appalachian Feet. It’s going to take me a fair while to explore it, but Ill enjoy that!
Mark, good to have you with us. I haven’t tried black kale but I’ve heard of it. I think it’s a favorite among Italians. I’m looking forward to experimenting with different varieties as I know there is lots to choose from with respect to color, texture and flavor.
If you’re looking to explore Self Reliance Works, be sure to sit down with a pot of coffee. We have over 700 posts, and we add about 12 each week. If it’s about being more self reliant, we either write about it now, or soon will.