Uncle Bert’s Purple Kale

£2.70

17 in stock

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I originally came across this fantastic kale through some seeds I got from the Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library, and it instantly became my new favourite kale!

It’s a Russian type, so the leaves are flat and frilly, with an attractive blue-green colour and strong purple ribbing. Plants grow to a couple feet high and wide. It lasts all through the winter and can get really quite big and bushy in the spring, before it goes to flower. If you let it, you can then get a duel crop, picking off the shoots and buds before they form the
actual flowers – just like baby purple sprouting broccoli. Leave it to flower completely and he bees will love you! The leaves are sweet and nutty, so try them in a baby leaf salad…. or have you ever made raw kale pesto? Just whizz up some kale leaves, garlic, walnuts and grated parmesan with some olive oil, and a splash of lemon juice. Yummy superfood at it’s best!

Approx. 150 seeds

Originally stewarded by Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library.

Botanical name: Brassica oleracea

Grown by: Carolyn Moody

Sow in mid to late spring either indoors in modules or outside in a seed bed. Transplant to their final position, once they’re about 4-6” tall, adding lots of organic material. Space them 2½ ft apart and firm them in well. Keep well-watered when young, but don’t over water once established and avoid waterlogging in the winter.

Seeds can be sown from March until June and are best sown in modules. They’ll germinate quickly and you won’t need any additional heat. Pot them on when they’ve got their first set of ‘true’ leaves, then plant them out when they’re about 4-6” tall, at about 2.5ft spacings, after hardening off. Dig in plenty of organic matter initially, and water regularly throughout the season. Avoid waterlogging in the winter.

Make sure you plant them a little deeper than they were in their pots, and firm them in well, as brassicas hate being rocked about in the wind. You may want to add a stake if you’re on an exposed site, or you’re growing a tall variety. Slugs and snails love young brassicas, so they’ll need protection, and if you have problems with cabbage root fly, make sure you cover the ground around each plant. Later in the season, cabbage white butterflies may be a problem, so you can either cover with a net, or hand pick the caterpillars. Like all brassicas, sprouting broccoli is a hungry crop, so feed regularly throughout the season – I like to use comfrey or nettle tea.