Don't Panic Kale Lovers: You Can Grow the Plant Yourself

I know that loving and eating kale is the fashionable thing to do, but I just can’t stomach kale.

I’ve sautéed it, baked it and juiced it with pineapple. And my face still scrunches up when I taste the iron-rich but bitter member of the cabbage family.

Surely, my taste buds can’t be so unusual. But I began to think I’m in the minority when I learned a major Australian supplier of kale seed has warned that he’s out of stock, signaling a U.S. kale shortage and a price hike in the near future.

I’m not crying in my kale soup – also tried that – over the predicted shortage. But if you are, dry your tears. You can grow the plant yourself.

I checked a couple of on-line seed sellers, and they all seem to have plenty of kale seed available. Eden Brothers, in fact, has slashed its price of a packet of kale seed from $3 to $1.95.

Kale is super easy to grow. And your fall garden is the perfect time and place to plant it.

How to Grow Kale

If you plant kale in mid summer, you can eat kale even through winter if temperatures don’t drop into the teens. Plant 6-8 weeks before the first frost, so plants become established before cold weather arrives.

Kale prefers to grow in sun, but the hardy little son-of-a-guns will grow in partial shade as well.

1. Add some compost and peat to your garden to lighten up the soil a bit: Kale likes well draining soil.

2. Plant seeds about ½-inch deep.

3. Keep soil well watered in the summer heat.

4. When seedlings are about two weeks old, thin them to 12-24 inches apart if you have the room; if not, make it 8-12 inches, and you’ll grow smaller plants with more tender leaves.

That’s about it. Enjoy (at least someone will).

-- By Lisa Kaplan Gordon

Photo by Robert Gaskin

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