From yesterday’s post we know Kale is one of the most nutritious vegetables you can grow.

Kale is considered a Fall to Spring vegetable since cool temperatures and light frost improves the flavor. Heat creates a more intense flavor which I myself enjoy. Heat also tends to make kale bolt – or go to seed. One variety of kale that tolerates heat well and doesn’t seem to bolt during hot weather is my favorite – an Italian heirloom variety – Lacinato; also known as Calavo, Dino, Dinosaur, Black or Palm Tree Kale.

Plant your Kale

Kale grows best in nitrogen rich soil at a pH of 6 to 7 but can tolerate most average garden soils. Kale can also tolerate partial shade – which can be beneficial during the summer months to shield the plant from heat.

We generally plant about six to eight plants of Lacinato Kale year round with some Red Winter Kale and Red Russian Kale during the cooler months. These generally grow in our raised beds but after our rodent problems I decided to grow this nutritious must-have vegetable in some 7 gallon nursery  pots.

Sow seeds 1/2 inch deep in little pots to transplant or directly in the garden. Seeds will germinate at temperatures at or above 68F and will take any where from 5 to 10 days depending on how warm the soil is. Keep the soil moist until the seedlings are well established. Then thin to 10 to 12 inches apart.

You can start harvesting the outer leaves when the plant has at least 6 leaves. Leave the center leaves and the plant will keep growing eventually getting 2 to 3 feet tall looking like a palm tree. If your plant does bolt and develop a seed stalk – harvest the bud before the flowers open and prepare like broccoli.

Kale can attract aphids – I find a very dilute solution of dish soap (1 teaspoon per quart) sprayed on the infested plant knocks them out though I recently discovered my own “vermin vinaigrette” works really well too.

Possible companions: beets, celery, dill, lavender, onions, rosemary, sage, thyme and nasturtiums.

Easy to prepare – you can cook kale as you would spinach but for a few minutes longer to soften the thicker leaves. I like to saute with a smashed garlic clove in extra virgin olive oil and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice right before serving. If you have tender young leaves you can eat them raw with your favorite salad dressing.

Kale…plant it, grow it, eat it!  

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Lacinato aka Dinosaur Kale

Kale is a member of the Brassica or Cruciferous or Cabbage family – along with collards, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, mustard, turnips, rutabagas and radishes.

Not only is it fairly easy to grow from seed, it can be grown year round (especially in the San Francisco Bay Area – Zone 9) – it’s one of the most nutritious plants there is.

Kale is rich in many vitamins and minerals

So many vitamins – let me count the vi’s…there’s Vitamin K, A, C, B6, E, B2, B1, Folate and B3.

Feeling a little low in seratonin? Trytophan (the precursor to seratonin) is not just for turkeys – yup, it’s in kale too.

Kale is a gold mine…rich with calcium, manganese, copper, potassium, iron, magnesium and phosporus. Minerals important to healthy bones, energy production and the proper function of just about every body system.

For those who don’t tolerate dairy and worry about their bones – don’t. Research has shown that the calcium in kale is better absorbed than the calcium in milk!

Did you say, “anti-oxidant?”

Kale is tops when it comes to cancer and eye health.

The eyes have it when it comes to Lutein and Zeaxanthin and so does kale. Sure you can take a pill but those are generally isolated nutrients in super high doses…I always want my nutrition from real whole foods – the way nature intended.

Kale contains sulfur rich phytonutrients that research suggests enhances detoxification of cancer causing compounds. It’s thought that compounds in kale actually turn on the genes directing our body to make more cancer neutralizing enzymes. Other research indicates some of these phytonutrients directly inactivate chemicals that promote cancer.

For those skeptical of all the science and lab experiments,
this is where proof meets fork – many studies show that people who regularly ate vegetables in the Brassica family have lower incidence of cancers.
Wow! Put some on my plate.

The icing? How about high fiber, a little omega 3’s and low calories!

Tomorrow…growing that kale.

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All this from a few sprouted potatoes

Today I harvested a basket full of potatoes. It’s so much fun to reach into the dirt and pull out these little jewels. All of these potatoes are offspring of potatoes I had in my pantry that started to sprout. I use to think – oh these have gone bad and tossed them.

Now I just plant them.

From today’s little harvest we enjoyed some roasted potatoes – before roasting in a 400F oven I tossed them with extra virgin olive oil, chopped garlic, spanish smoked paprika, sea salt and black pepper. Done in about 20 minutes. Yum.

I also made a Garden Chowder.

First I sauteed half a diced onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic chives, 1 sliced stalk of celery and 1 sliced carrot in 2 tablespoons of butter.

Then I poured in about a 1/3 c of white wine, 4 cups of water, 2 bay leaves, a bunch of chopped kale, 1 1/2 cups of sliced potatoes, a very generous pinch of sea salt and little pinch of black pepper. But wait! I remembered we had a bag of artichoke hearts in the freezer so I tossed those in too.

I simmered until the kale and potatoes were soft then added a 1/2 cup of heavy cream, a squeeze of lemon juice and salt & pepper to taste.

That was good eating with enough leftover for lunch tomorrow.

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Offerings from the garden this morning. This is the second harvest for the tomatoes – last time was when we picked our first ripe one of the season – a full two weeks ago. That tells you what the weather has been like. The smoke from the 2000+ wildfires here in California filtered the sun quite a bit for the first two weeks of July and had quite an effect on the growth of the plants. Even with the hazy weather, I’m afraid the garden won’t be producing as in years past – more on why soon.

This time in addition to the Early Girl variety of tomato I got a few of the Celebrity which I had grown last year and loved for it’s meatiness – as in texture not taste.

So we also have some lemon cucumbers, a slicing cucumber, a globe squash (hidden under the tomatoes and cukes), a small handful of romano beans, basil tips and a bunch of my favorite dino kale.

Today I’ll be making a lentil and red quinoa soup so will add the globe squash, romano beans, basil and kale stems. The kale leaves will get a quick saute in extra virgin olive oil with some garlic that Robin gave me, then finished with a pinch of Redmond sea salt. Tomorrow I’ll make a Greek salad with the cucumbers, tomatoes and some mint from the garden along with some tasty Greek style feta.

Now, off to the stables with the gals for a load of compost…

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Here’s what I picked this morning before it got too hot – it’s expected to be in the 90’s today in Oakland.

We have 3 kinds of lettuce: Cos Romaine, Speckled Romaine and an heirloom variety Brune d’Hiver – it’s long leafed like a romaine but creamy like a butter lettuce – and it’s a beautiful red. There’s also a tiny handful of purslane. Some consider it a weed but it’s nice tangy addition to a tossed green salad and high in omega 3’s to boot

There’s also lacinato kale (aka dino kale, black kale, palm tree kale), a poblano chile pepper, a pickling cuke, a lemon cuke, a meyer lemon and some basil tips – all of these will be part of my V-10 juice that I will make today in our Green Star juicer.

Then for a nice saute with some basil or tarragon tonight there’s a globe summer squash, romano beans AND our FIRST ripe Tomato. Appropriately enough, an early girl.

This is a plant that we ‘foolishly’ planted in the first week of May during an unusually early heat wave. Then the cold hit and Patti cleverly wrapped bubble wrap around the first foot and a half of the bottom of the tomato cage. It kept the plant happy until the weather warmed up and it’s been growing disease free and loaded with tomatoes since.

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