Kitchen Garden Forum

Primrose if I saw that on the allotment I would freak out!

Pa Snip, I don't know how they do it but white fly sneak in even under the environmesh. I'm sure I inhale hundreds / thousands each season!

Westi

Pa Snip wrote:Having netted my brassicas throughout the butterfly season I have escaped the ravages of caterpillars.

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Kale is an amazing plant, easy to grow and produces masses of leaf. Even more is I hacked my plants so all that was left was trunks. Now those trunks have produced more masses of leaf and I have ten plants ready to go into the ground under my mini polytunnels. Presumably those leafy trunks will be hit by cold weather, if they continue to produce I'll be taken over by kale.

Another good point is males ability for colonic clearance, I take codein at nights debits become a habit that inhibits bowel function. Not something to be concerned about if you have kale but you do have to eat it. Kale is probably rich in minerals though as a food source it probably takes more energy to digest it than it produces as a food so good for the fat bums and tums amongst us.

Ok, you knew that didn't you ? And I think I'm repeating myself. Why stop now when most are getting used to me repeating.

Repeat away Richard!

Funnily I grew some at home this year as quite addicted to tomato, chorizo & kale soup which I also add pasta to occasionally. The back garden's have been attacked big time - thanks to this feed I am persevering but I think mine may disprove the ability to re-grow!

The allotments have a bit of white fly but a they really do better than the pampered ones at home.

Westi

I'll try not to.

I'm not one for showing off or inducing envy but I just spent some time pulling nettles out from around my kale bed. That kale grown from stumps is better that the first broth because with the second flush you lots of tender young leaves that are much smaller that the originals and all a very bright green rather than the darker green..

I wish I could share it with someone who genuinely enjoys kale and/is prepared to play with it rather than just taking the kale because it's in vogue at the moment then binning it.

We love kale in all shapes and sizes and grow at least three types every year, this year its Cavolo Nero, Ragged Jack and curly kale. We use it as a vegetable on its own, but also in bubble and squeak and in my favourite 'central European winter soup' which I have mentioned before. This year caterpillar damage has been quite light, but we did have the brassica bed covered with a double layer of anti-bird netting which seems to have deterred the butterflies as well.
I will certainly try your advice, Richard, and cut down the older plants when they are spent and hope for new growth coming up!

Monika wrote:I will certainly try your advice, Richard, and cut down the older plants when they are spent and hope for new growth coming up!

A member of this forum was the advisor though as usual I dont remember who it was to thank for the tip of cutting the old growth back to the stumps. I did leave a few leaves and my soil is heavily composted from the cow poo I laid under the soil.

Maybe it's the cow poo, sadly my local farmer built new barns and uses a new system for his waste. His waste used to be stacked in large piles so it composted, then he used it and it was from these piles that I used to get a JCB bucket full over the bank between us. Now he spreads it over his grazing every spring and it stinks for two weeks.

My first attempt at growing cabbage and kale was a disaster, mini slugs and catterpillar damage was so big I decided to not bother or form tunnels of enviromesh to keep the flying things away and pay more attention to keeping slugs down in the case of cabbage. I haven't bothered with cabbage since because I prefer kale and the enviromesh tunnels are 100% effective though the kale grows taller than the height of the tunnels unless you keep cutting them back.