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Loading...Kale: An Easy Beginner’s Guide to Growing
- Alisa Rutherford-Fortunati
- March 8, 2012
- 9:30 am
- 48 comments
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Stage 4: Care and Harvesting
Care:
- Keep your plants well watered. Along with cool temperatures, kale also enjoys moist soil. Keeping the soil most will also help keep the leaves sweet and crisp.
- Side dressing (fertilizing along the rows) with compost throughout the growing season will help keep your kale producing. You can do this approximately every 6-8 weeks.
- If you’re having issues with dirt sticking to and rotting your kale leaves, you can put mulch (such as straw or grass) around the kale once it is at least six inches high.
Insects and diseases that affect kale:
Cutworms, cabbage loopers and cabbageworms enjoy munching on kale, but kale is relatively good at resisting disease. Giving your plants the nutrients they need and picking off any weathered leaves will help reduce insects found in your garden.
How to Harvest Kale:
Kale is usually ready for harvest 70-95 days from seed and 55-75 days from transplanting, depending on the variety you are planting. Check the seed packet for specific times.
- You can begin to cut individual leaves off the kale when the plant is approximately 8 to 10 inches high, starting with the outside leaves first.
- If you decide to harvest the entire plant, cut the stock two inches above the soil and the plant will sprout new leaves in 1 to 2 weeks.
- Make sure to harvest kale leaves before they become too old and tough. If you can’t eat the kale leaves fast enough and they begin to turn brown, pull the old leaves off, and compost them, to free the plants of insect attractants and unnecessary energy drains.
- You can also pick kale regularly and store it in the fridge for up to a week. If you choose to do so, keep it lightly moist and place it in a bag, but unsealed, in the crisper bin.
Look out for my new post on the health benefits of kale and simple delicious ways to enjoy it everyday, coming soon!
Related Posts:
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Read more: Eco-friendly tips, Environment, Green, Health, Lawns & Gardens, Nature, Nature & Wildlife, Outdoor Activities, Vegan, Vegetarian, Beginners guide to planting from seed, How to grow kale
Alisa Rutherford-Fortunati
Gentle World is a vegan intentional community and non-profit organization, whose core purpose is to help build a more peaceful society, by educating the public about the reasons for being vegan, the benefits of vegan living, and how to go about making such a transition. For more information about vegan food and other aspects of a vegan lifestyle, visit the Gentle World website and subscribe to our monthly newsletter.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
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Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
people are talking
Great stuff, lovin' the Blue...
So glad he has help coming! Thank you for the article! Daughter is a "Dirty Dog"! Get Her!
My faith in humanity has been restored. :)
thanks
Fasting is one thing and can indeed have beneficial health advantages. However, fasting has nothing…
48 comments
+ add your ownSynchronicity... I just bought kale seeds :)
A OK
thanks for the info!
Good article.
mio figlio coltiva verdure biologiche e, spesso, ne riserva una parte alle persone bisognose
How do I print for rereading?
Niestety ja nie mogę uprawiać żadnych warzyw, tylko kwiaty, ziemia na której mieszkam jest zatruta metalami ciężkimi, wolę nie ryzykować.
I'd better wait until fall.
I will definately try this. Will have to do it soon as we get above 80 degrees in Texas very early. I have not seen any transplants so will have to find seeds.
Thanks for sharing.
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