Kale, Sweet Hardy seeds

Description

Lost variety reborn. We’ve no luck in ID-ing this hardy blue-green tender leafed kale. Prefers cool conditions; best to started mid summer for large plants to harvest winter/spring greens. Leaves are sweeter after frost. Fresh, cooked or as chips. Row covers help against heavy snow/frost. Big more vigorous plants withstand winter’s worst. A crop cover/protection will help greatly. Cold temps = sweet leaves. Best kale we’ve tried/grown to date for tenderness, sweetness & mild flavour. Loves lots of sun & well draining fertile soil. Fresh, soup to chips.  If you pick the developing flowering buds the plant is almost a perennial capable of living for years, getting larger each growing season.

• Seed Count: 200+
• Collection Date: Dec 2021
• Hardiness Zone: monocarpic annual if flowers; perennial (zone 7) if flower buds picked
• Preferred conditions: Full to semi sun; humus rich acidic soil
• Height and Width: 1-3m x 1-3m
• Germination test type: hand sort/actual germination (+80%)

How to germinate Sweet Hardy Kale seeds:

Use moisture retentive porous medium & 10cm deep pots. Start mid to late summer. Sow thinly & cover seed 3mm. Keep moist. Germinates in 7-10 days. Due to high summer temps, best grow in cool shade & keep medium moist. Abused seedlings bolt at a very young age (all brassica do this). Give ½ strength liquid fertilizer weekly. Transplant into garden when temps cool (early Sept). Mulch, water, fertilize well.