Kale plants can keep giving you fresh leaves through the coldest months of the year.2 Picture a frosty morning, a pair of scissors and a basket of green leaves from your own garden. This guide walks you through planting, growing and harvesting kale at home, step by step.
Why Grow Kale Plants at Home?
Kale is a hardy leafy green that handles chilly temperatures with ease.1 It thrives in spring and autumn.1 It is also one of the easiest members of the brassica family to grow.1
It is good for you, too. One serving of kale is low in calories and packed with vitamins and minerals, including 200% of your daily vitamin C requirement.7 That is a lot of goodness from one leafy plant.
Kale belongs to the Brassica family, which also includes broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and radishes.4 It is happy in containers and tolerates clay soil.1
Using a pot? Choose a large one with drainage holes and fill it with fresh potting compost.
Understanding the Kale Growth Cycle
Kale is a biennial plant, so it takes two years to complete its growth cycle.9 It grows leaves in its first year, and those leaves are the harvest you are after.9
When to Plant Kale
Plant four weeks before your last frost date in spring, and again six weeks before your first frost date in autumn.7 Another guide suggests late winter or early spring, with a second planting in late summer for a harvest from autumn into winter.9
Look up your local frost dates and write them on your calendar. Do not worry about being exact. Use the dates as a guide and adjust to your own weather.
If autumn is here now, count back six weeks from your first frost date to see if there is still time.7
Planting Kale: Where and How to Sow
Choose a spot with full sun to part shade.7 Fork over the bed and remove weeds before you plant. Loose, clean soil gives young roots an easy start.
Test your soil and follow the directions on any fertiliser label. Keep fertiliser and other garden products out of reach of children and pets.
You can start seeds indoors, then move the seedlings into the garden.3 Space plants 12 to 18 inches apart, with rows 2 feet apart.8
Label each row with the variety and the sowing date.
Choosing Kale Varieties
Varieties offer a choice of smooth, puckered or frilly leaves in green or purple-red.2 Starbor (green), Red Russian (purple) and Scarlet (red-leaf) are all noted for excellent production, eating quality and cold hardiness.8
Pick the colours and leaf shapes you enjoy looking at. Then try a second kind next year to compare.
Caring for Your Kale Plants
Avoid water or fertiliser stress as plants grow, and water deeply but not too often.8 Check your plants each time you water. Control insects and diseases throughout the year.8
Start gently by removing damaged leaves by hand. Keep children, pets and pollinators away from anything you spray.
Kale is a lovely crop to share with children. Let them water the rows and help you pick, and keep scissors in adult hands. If pets roam your garden, ask your vet which plants they can safely nibble.
Harvesting Kale: How to Pick Leaves
When harvesting kale, either cut or carefully tear off individual leaves from the main stalk.6
You can start early by picking baby greens while the seedlings are young.6 Always leave behind at least a handful of leaves.6 Rinse the leaves well before you cook or eat them.
The leaves can be harvested over many months, and regular picking encourages more to grow.2 So pick little and often rather than stripping a plant bare.
Got more than you can eat? Freeze the extra leaves and use them all winter long.3
Kale can even grow indoors as a houseplant, and you can harvest mature or baby leaves from it.5
Your Next Step: A Simple Kale Planting, Growing and Harvesting Plan
This week, check your local frost dates, count back to your planting dates and choose one variety to try.7 Then plant, water deeply and pick little and often.
- Check your local frost dates and count back to your planting dates.7
- Choose a spot with full sun to part shade.7
- Start seeds indoors if you like, then move the seedlings into the garden.3
- Space plants 12 to 18 inches apart, with rows 2 feet apart.8
- Water deeply but not too often.8
- Pick little and often, and always leave behind at least a handful of leaves.6
- Freeze any extra leaves to use all winter long.3