Growing Organic Kale is Easy, Even for Beginners!

I eat at a lot of kale at this time of year. My young kale seedlings are just getting started and will soon produce bountiful harvests. I enjoy homegrown kale in salads, soups, sautéed, and even on pizzas. I especially love to mix it with fruits like apples, blueberries or pineapple, to make fresh green smoothies in my blender.

Kale is renowned as a nutritional powerhouse. Its health benefits are primarily linked to the high concentration of antioxidant vitamins A, C, K, and sulphur-containing phytonutrients. One cup of chopped kale contains only 33 calories, yet it yields abundant calcium, vitamins A, C, and lots of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

Eating more kale is an easy way to improve the quality of your diet, and growing your own is easier than you think, even if you have little or no experience with vegetable gardening. Fall is the best season for beginners here in Tallahassee and kale is an excellent introductory crop to grow.

For beginners, start out with fresh, healthy plants from your local nursery. You will want at least three plants to have adequate harvests. There are a variety of kales to choose from; my favorites are Lacinato, Dwarf Blue Curly and Red Russian.

Choose a site for a bed or container that gets the most sun in your yard. Even if you have only 3-4 hours of sun, choose the sunniest spot and you will still enjoy harvests. Kale is tolerant of partial shade, but will grow a little slower.

To prepare your bed:

1)    Remove all existing vegetation first, roots and all. This is important as you don’t want pesky sod or weeds competing with your kale for water and nutrients. Your bed can be as long as you need, but remember to not make it wider than four feet so you can still reach across to weed and harvest.

2)    Dig your bed at least a foot deep to loosen up existing soil and break up any tree roots within the bed. You can use a quality round point shovel, heavy duty garden fork, or a mattock. Add a fresh layer of mushroom compost, at least six inches, to your soil.

3)    Dust a layer of organic, granular, slow-release fertilizer like Espoma’s Plant-tone across the compost. If you have quality compost, you can tuck your kale plants right into it, allowing a good 8-10” between plants. Plant the stem just an inch deeper than it is in the pot. Water them in thoroughly with a gentle spray nozzle, and regularly check their watering every few days.

I would also encourage anyone, even beginners, to try growing from seed. Some crops can be difficult, but kale is very easy from seed. Just prepare your soil, sprinkle the seeds over and cover the seed bed with only a light dusting of soil, then water well. The bed should be watered regularly and the seedlings will appear within two weeks. Once they are 3-4” tall, I dig, separate and space them out where want them.

Newly planted kale will take a week or so to establish roots, and then will begin growing. When the plants reach 6” you can begin harvesting leaves. Always harvest the lower leaves first, leaving a few newer top leaves so the plants can continue growing. Watch them grow and keep an eye out for caterpillars, the most common pest on kale. If you begin to see holes in the leaves, look under those leaves and you will likely see a caterpillar. Don’t fret.  

You can just squish them or safely treat them with Dipel dust; a biological insecticide that only kills caterpillars, breaks down quickly and is safe for your organic garden.

Enjoy your harvests of fresh, organic kale well into early spring. Below I’ve included one of my favorite, mouthwatering kale salad recipes for inspiration.

Ingredients

4-6 cups Lacinato kale, sliced leaves, midribs removed.
Juice of 1 lemon,
3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, mashed.
Salt & pepper, to taste.
Hot red pepper flakes, to taste
2/3 cup grated Pecorino Toscano cheese, or other flavorful grating cheese such as Asiago or Parmesan
1/2 cup freshly made bread crumbs from lightly toasted bread

Instructions

1. Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and a generous pinch (or more to taste) of hot red pepper flakes. 

2. Pour over kale in serving bowl and toss well.
3. Add 2/3 of the cheese and toss again.
4. Let kale sit for at least 5 minutes. Add bread crumbs, toss again, and top with remaining cheese.

Protection from Mosquitoes is More Important Than Ever

Considering the Zika news that seems to get a little more alarming every week, it is more important than ever to stay vigilant in your battle to keep your yard as mosquito free as possible. Eliminating standing water wherever possible is a good place to start. We’ve always tried to keep up with this task here at the nursery, but it is now an even higher priority. If you have not done so recently, we recommend that you take some time this weekend to ‘walk’ your entire property looking for trouble spots. Some you may be able to eliminate altogether. For others, there are some natural products that are very effective.

Mosquito Dunks and Mosquito Bits are a safe way to kill mosquito larvae in those areas of standing water that you cannot eliminate. The active ingredient is Bacillus thuringiensis which is a bacterium that is deadly for mosquito larvae, but will not harm you, your children, your pets or the planet. Use the dunks or the bits in birdbaths, rain barrels, unused swimming pools, tree hollows, gutters, flower pots or anywhere else you have standing water from time to time. The dunks can be used whole or broken into smaller pieces. I scatter the bits in woodsy areas where there is a lot of leaf litter that can hold water for quite a while between rains.

Unfortunately you cannot often control standing water on properties surrounding your home. Mosquito Barrier is a great solution for this problem. It is a natural product that will keep mosquitoes out of your yard. At first glance, it seems a bit pricy; but it’s a concentrate, and a one quart bottle covers 1.25 acres. We also carry it in gallons. Still, if you’re on a budget like I am, you can stretch the product by using it only where you spend most of your time. I have used Mosquito Barrier around and on my back deck and from my front door to where I park my car (pretty much right in front of my front door – I live in a townhouse). That way I’m covered most of the time and a one quart bottle lasts me three or four months. One application lasts for two to three weeks and will even continue to work after it rains (if the product has time to dry thoroughly after application).

So now your yard is safe, but what do you do to protect yourself and your family when you go out into the world? You use repellents of course. Here at Native Nurseries we have sold natural repellents for years—no DEET for us—no siree Bob! Zika however, has us rethinking some choices. According to EWG (The Environmental Working Group – http://www.ewg.org/), ‘The risk of Zika infection is far more serious than side effects from repellent chemicals, provided you use products as directed.’ That does not mean we have to bite the bullet and go as far as using DEET. There are other choices. The active ingredient in Natrapel is Picaridin. EWG says, ‘Picaridin is not known to irritate skin and eyes, does not have a pungent odor like DEET and does not dissolve plastics. It evaporates from the skin more slowly than DEET or IR3535 and may repel bugs for longer periods. In efficacy testing it performs like DEET, appearing to repel a wide range of pests. The World Health Organization recommends Picaridin, along with DEET and IR3535, for protection against mosquitoes that carry diseases. Picaridin does not carry the same neurotoxicity concerns as DEET but has not been tested as much over the long term. Overall, EWG’s assessment is that Picaridin is a good DEET alternative with many of the same advantages and without the same disadvantages.’

Considering this and other information we’ve read and heard in recent weeks, we feel we owe it to our customers to discontinue selling natural essential oil type repellents. For those who intend to continue to use them, come see us—we just put the rest of our stock on sale. Be sure, however, to apply them generously and often. Today we are placing an order for Natrapel. Hopefully we’ll have some within a week. Lilly has been using this product, and she’s very impressed with its effectiveness. She also says it seems to keep the mosquitoes at more of a distance, that when she uses Natrapel, the mosquitoes do not buzz around her face.

Yes—Zika is sounding pretty scary; but the good news is that whether you and your family like to get your nature fix in your backyard or in the national forest, we have safe options that will help keep you protected. Come see us.

Grace Miller's Thoughts on Native Plantings for Wildlife

This is a letter from customer, friend and former employee Grace Miller to Donna on 6/20/16. It was written after reading a garden section from Tallahassee Democrat (June 17, 2015) which included 2 articles by Donna "Bring on the Birds: Native shrubs harbor bugs that provide primo protein for our feathered friends" and "Make a Splash with a Well-placed Birdbath". It also included an article entitled, "Coastal properties offer haven for birds" by Sheftall and Lovestrand.

“Dear Donna,

Was it coincidence or a well-planned cohesion which brought together this collection of writings that point out a long overdue way of approaching landscaping practices? Together with your articles and the contribution of Will Sheftall and Erik Lovestrand we must also add Jody’s preceding article on the use of “American” plants.

I have thought about the use of home landscaping to create oases of livability for birds and other wildlife, even before I became acquainted with Native Nurseries’ life work to promote this concept. In the 1960s I submitted a college paper on this subject. However, at the time, I had no concept of native plants versus non-native plants.

The world of native plants did not become revealed to me until the very early 1980s when I was fortunate to discover you, Donna, Jody and Native Nurseries. By the 1990s, under that guidance and influence, my home garden had become a copious collection of native plants - trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals. I took delight in all of them and so did the attendant wildlife, down to the tiniest insect. As I walked through my property I would be acutely aware of the birdsong and the hum of pollinating insects. The gardens were alive with a very special music, a synergistic symphony - Earth Music.

The concept of the use of native plants to host insects to host birds and other wildlife is a valid and valuable idea. It is, in my opinion, the basis for all life, this ecological linkage.

Sincerely,
”

— Grace Miller