Sun. Kale is a cool-season leafy green vegetable with high nutritional value. It’s considered much closer to the original wild form of cabbage, but unlike domesticated cabbage, kale’s leaves don’t form a tight central head. In south-central Texas kale is grown in winter, from autumn until mid-spring; it’s among the cold-hardiest of all leafy greens. There are a variety of edible cultivars. The striking pink-purple-and-white ornamental forms are edible as well, but may be somewhat less palatable.
Plant in late fall after the danger of hot dry weather has passed. Space plants 1 feet apart in well-drained, loose organic soil. When harvesting for winter salads, use the lower leaves on individual plants. Once the weather warms up, aphids and leaf miners take a toll; by late spring, kales are replaced with summer bedding plants.
An easy-to-grow vegetable, and one of the tougher winter annuals.
