SilCo2

SilCo2

Russian Kale is Awesome.

 I have been growing Red Russian Kale since 2009. It's the most vigorous green in my garden by far. I eat it fresh from the garden most of the winter and all Spring. Great in salads, super nutritious. Because Russian Kale is most productive in the 'hungry months' of March and April I consider it my most important crop.

 Russian Kale is so easy to grow. I plant it thickly in rows in late February and thin plants with flower snips as they get crowded. Nice garden munchies. About April 20 I start to harvest leaves. I stop picking leaves when the bugs get bad and begin picking again in October when the bugs are fading. I pick until a hard freeze stops growth. Growth starts again in February and I pick leaves again in early March. About March 1 I plant the next crop.

 Frank Morton has created several new varieties of Russin Kale and has generously offered his un-named varieties to growers for developement of locally adapted varieties. March 1 I planted a patch of my Red Russian and a patch of his "Wild Garden Kale Mix". Wow! The difference was clear in a  few weeks. All of the vigorously growing plants came from Frank's seed.

 I planted more of Frank's seeds in August and plan to follow both plantings through to seed harvest in 2014.

 My garden was 2 flats down and it started with a fair amount of topsoil. This year I cleared a 600 sq. ft. area on a slight slope with little topsoil. I put some more leaves on top and covered it with plastic. After a snow I pulled the plastic off and burned the leaves. Before planting I added nitrogen to the soil with my urine. After growing started I added nitrogen as needed with 'Golden Fertilizer', 1 part urine to 15 parts water.

 I believe that drying of the top of the soil is necessary for growing deep, drought resistant roots. I like to think of it as the roots chasing down the rain water. In times of drought I select some plants to keep alive with a little water; the rest make it on their own or they die.

 I also believe that weeds can be good and I let weeds grow till they start to choke my plants.

 So there it is: I don't till and do very little weeding and watering. My garden sign:
 ________________________
 This Garden Dedicated
 to the Memory of
 Maynard G. Krebs and Ruth Stout
 ________________________

I started some more Russian Kale in August to compare Spring and Fall planting. Stay tuned.

elsie_arky

You can write me at yahoo.com

Feb 27, 2013

April 15, 2013