10 Reasons You Should Be Growing Kale This Year and How to Do It

If you are trying to decide which green to grow in your garden this year, might I suggest kale?

1. It’s easy to grow from seed
2. You can transplant it outside earlier than other greens
3. It can survive the summer heat
4. It is cold hardy and can survive mild-medium winters
5. It comes in many different varieties
6. You can cut the bottom leaves off for a continual harvest
7. It will produce the aforementioned continual harvest for over a year
8. The seeds are easy to collect and save
9. It grows great in containers
10. It tastes delicious as a raw and cooked green!

I’m really hoping those 10 reasons convinced you to try kale this year. If they did then you’ll want to keep reading to learn how to grow it.

How to Grow Kale in Containers:

• Sun: Kale prefers a very sunny location in the spring, fall and winter, but it does better with a little bit of shade in the heat of summer. Being able to move it is one advantage to growing it in containers!
• Moisture: Kale needs moderate watering. I like to bottom water mine and keep the potting mix slightly damp (but not wet) at all times.
• Soil: I use “normal” potting mix for my kale. As long as the mix has adequate nutrients (brassicas really like nitrogen), moisture retention and drainage your kale will thrive.
• Container Size: I recommend planting kale in a 2 gallon pot or larger. You can definitely start it in a smaller pot, but I like to give it a little bit of extra depth for the roots. Bonus, I’ve fit 3 plants in a 2 gallon pot before!
• Planting/Propagating: Kale is really easy to start from seed via the winter sowing method. You can also use more conventional indoor seed starting techniques, or buy starts from your local nursery.
• Yearly Maintenance: This plant does not require any annual maintenance.
• Winterizing: If you live in a location with a mild winter, this plant does not need any special winter care. In Maryland I do not do anything to prepare for winter. If you live somewhere colder with lots of snow it would benefit from a green house or cold frame.
• Pruning/Harvesting: Harvest the biggest leaves at the bottom of the stem for a continual harvest. The new leaves will pop out at the top of the stem and you will have a kale “tree.”
• Preserving: I recommend eating your kale fresh but you can also freeze it or make it in to kale “chips.”
• Pests/ Disease: In general kale is a pretty hardy plant. That being said, you need to be on the lookout for cabbage moths! These cute little white butterflies that signal the beginning of summer will lay their eggs on your kale and those eggs will hatch into voracious green caterpillars. I check my kale leaves for eggs and caterpillars daily during the cooler parts of the summer. You could also cover your plants with a tent of fine mesh since the kale doesn’t need to be pollinated to produce leaves.

Kale is also east to grow in in-ground garden beds. Just make sure the soil has plenty of nutrients because the plant does feed heavily on nitrogen.

I hope you decide to grow kale this year and that it provides you many salads and maybe a little bit of chaos.

Additional Resources:

Online Resources:

• University of Minnesota – Growing Collards & Kale in Home Gardens
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension – UNL Food: Kale
• University of Maryland – Growing leafy Greens in a Home Garden
• Utah State University – How to Grow Kale in Your Garden

Books that I love:

• Audra Avizienis, Karen Lawrence and Sophie Cornish-Keefe’s The Fruit & Vegetable Bible