Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi,

Can anyone tell me when is the best time to sow Kale (Pentland Brig)

Regards

Kevin

I believe between mid April to July - I have some on my list to sow in May

Mine is in the diary for April 16th. Found out this Winter it is not as tough as I thought, none of my three types of Kale have lived through, no PSB either. So we are now almost dependent on the freezer, just a few Swedes, Parsnips, Carrots and Leeks left fresh.

I have some that has survived (just) but very poorly. However, it will sprout so I will get something by the end of the month. MY redbore seems to be the hardiest.

I sow seeds in peat pots(3 inch) end of April/1st week in May,enough for six to eight plants. I use seeds from the same packet for three years running,something I would not normally do with other veg,seems to work ok. I was lucky this winter,my plants weathered well,though I think this was down to them being in a well sheltered spot.

Yes, Geoff, the same here. It's the first winter that I can remember (and I have been growing vegetables for almost 50 years) that none of the kale has survived. This year we had Nero di Toscana, Ragged Jack and Dwarf Curled and, although we picked a few central leaves at the end, it just wasn't worth keeping in the ground. I think it was the repeated change of frost and thaw this winter which caused their demise. Our PSB, too, looked very sorry for itself and we pulled it out to get the bed ready for peas and broad beans. Shame. Luckily, we still have lots of frozen peas, broad beans, French beans and red cabbage.

Back to the original question: I have just sown the bulk of our winter brassicas (having already sown some early cauliflowers and cabbages earlier), including the kale which is about my usual time.

I have some seed from HSL to try this year which is Kale Asparagus - assuming I can get my new lottie up and running in time for sowing

I've got the Asparagus kale from HSL this year too Suzie. I sowed it last week and it is already germinated. I can't remember what it said about it, but I thought it might be one of the fast growers like the Chinese Kales. It will be a surprise anyway - pity they don't have any info on the seed packets as I can't always find the little booklet to check the details.

I have grown asparagus kale, dont sow it too early, it grows very big very fast, I had a mixed bed of kales and it just overtook and dwarfed everything.

On my packet of Mr Fothergill's curly kale it says sowing time is March to May. That means April to May, but I dare say anything sown in June wqill catch up quickly.