Kale and Collards

Vegetables
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Kale and Collards

Kales are very cold-hardy, often surviving below zero. Their flavor is best when sweetened by frost. Generally planted in mid to late summer for winter use, and picked leaf-by leaf as needed.

Collards are actually a non-heading cabbage, with smooth leaves you can pick one by one instead of all at once in a single head. Collards tolerate heat better than any other brassicas, and can be grown year-round in most climates. My mother--like many people--survived the Great Depression because collards were in the garden.

Seed-savers should note the species in the description. We list the Brassica oleracea kales first, then B. nappus kales, then collards (B. oleracea.)