Autumn kale
At this time of the year it’s actually fun to be seed sowing, seedling nurturing and planting out again.
Every year I have great intentions to do winter greens of the mustard variety. Or even some Chinese salads.
But I just fall back on the standard – Cavolo Nero. Tuscan Black Kale.
It is the only kale I grow that seems impervious to most that can be thrown at it. (Save caterpillars.)
I started sowing early September so this post is a bit late. You will see sudden lush kale growth like time lapse photography.
Here is a quick snapshot of my two kale patches.
One in the raised bed in the main potager.
And now this.
They are fighting it out among the self seeded Swiss chard and some wacky cucumbers which I can’t bring myself to pull out yet as I’m so delighted by free food.
That will teach me to replenish the raised beds with home made compost. It’s a delightful surprise each time.
(And yes I pulled up all the tomato seedlings, because there is no way they will do anything more than take up space.)
But the best space for my kale is up at the top potager with my new raised beds.
First bed planted up.
Amazingly lush. But of course I didn’t factor in this late autumn warmth. So I hadn’t got round to braving the dread Madame Felix and order her metal netting for the sides.
I’ll brave her hardware emporium this winter and get the raised beds protected before spring.
The second narrower bed was planted up a few weeks later.
And with this incredible downpour (a whopping amount) the water supply has filled up and I have merrily filled water barrels so that come the next dry, there will be plenty of water at hand.
If it stops raining I will bring up more which are lurking down outside the stables doing nothing much.
This is our main winter green after Chard. (And the frozen supplies of spinach in the deep freeze in the cellar.)
So how marvellous to feel I’m on top of the crop well before winter, at last.
31st October 2022 @ 2:21 pm
What lushness! And the joy of having rain doing the watering for you, and filling every bucket and cistern. I admire your cavolo nero – for the first time this year I think I’ll have some. I’ve tried and failed several times in previous years – sowed too late, left seedlings too long etc etc. But this year, fingers crossed… On the brassica front, may I recommend Filderkraut cabbage. Huge, delicious, tender, the very best for choucroute, which I shall make shortly. The incredibly warm weather has meant that I harvested a trugful of tomatoes yesterday. Oudoor tomatoes, beautifully ripe, on 30 October??? It’s been a year of firsts.
6th November 2022 @ 7:30 am
Tomatoes in almost November is such a feat! Lucky you.
I don’t know Filderkraut. The biggest challenge I fin with any cabbage (apart from Kale) is the tiny beastly slugs that find their way inside the hearting cabbage and then munch and munch… or maybe I just need to be a more attentive gardener!