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Post by chrysanthemum on Mar 20, 2022 14:16:38 GMT -6
I have had six young plants of Lacinato/Dinosaur/Tuscan Kale growing in my garden until recently. A couple seemed to get taken by pests or cutworms, but this past week my whole family has been sick either with strep throat or flu or even both. I was busy running kids to the doctor and making trips to the pharmacy many times over and didn’t check on my garden as much as I normally do. I was still really surprised, though, to discover yesterday that my young kale plants had withered away and died. I guess they needed some surface watering during the week, and I neglected them. There was still water in the ollas, but I guess the roots weren’t developed enough to access it.
It’s officially (astronomical) spring now, and I’m wondering if it’s already too late for me to start more plants. I would do it inside, then harden off and transplant, but I’m wondering if it’s just going to be too warm. There’s no sense starting if I’m not going to get a harvest. I’d miss having the greens, but I could put something else in those spaces.
I’ve read that Dino kale can take heat better than other varieties, but I still don’t know what that really means for springtime in Texas. @bon , I think you’ve mentioned growing it, so maybe you could tell me how it handles your heat. You guys get temperatures that seem to rival (or at times even exceed) ours. Our extended forecast shows temperatures in the lower eighties for April, moving into the upper 80 and low 90s by the end of May.
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Kale
Mar 21, 2022 7:26:40 GMT -6
Post by chrysanthemum on Mar 21, 2022 7:26:40 GMT -6
Thanks for the thoughtful answer, Bon. I appreciate it. I think you’re right that I should try. I’ll learn something.
I had another kale growing earlier this winter and some Chijimisai (an Asian green), but they both got taken out by the first really hard freeze since they hadn’t seen any cold weather yet. I decided to try the Dino Kale as a late winter/spring crop. The seedlings didn’t really take off for me, though, so I’m going to try to grow them out bigger this time before I transplant. I have twelve square feet set aside for greens, so I’ve decided to try half in Dino kale again and half in Komatsuna (after rereading hmoosek’s thread about that).
Part of me is tempted to go back to Swiss Chard because it did really well for us, but three of my four kids don’t love it. They’ll eat it, and we still have some in the freezer, but that’s more a reflection of the fact that I don’t choose to prepare it as often as I would if the kids preferred it. My kids really like kale, so I’ll give it a try again.
I am so thankful that we are having a touch of rain right now. We’ve been so dry. It probably won’t be much accumulation, but it’s something, and my tomato and pepper transplants (still hardening off right now) are getting their first taste of real rain. Once it’s not raining anymore, I have hopes of going out to the bed where the kale used to be and turning the soil a bit. I’ll try to find out how things are looking down at grade level, but I suspect it won’t be too impressive. I did do sweet potatoes in that bed last year, so I imagine there were some feeder roots that broke through and have decomposed.
Brassicas tend to do well as fall crops down here. Last fall was weird, though, in that our heat really went on and on, especially throughout December. Then we had that sudden hard freeze that killed everything. I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t harvest before it, but the temperature dropped way farther than had been predicted, so it was really unexpected. I lost some good greens and at least one nice head of broccoli. Oh well. I’m trying again.
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Kale
Mar 21, 2022 13:03:25 GMT -6
macmex likes this
Post by heavyhitterokra on Mar 21, 2022 13:03:25 GMT -6
Bon,
Are you getting any of this good rain out your way?
We're experiencing a severe thunderstorm right now that is reminiscent of late April.
Chrysanthemum, Bon is right, don't kick yourself. Last Autumn was harsh. I lost both plantings of my winter cover crop last Fall, nearly $70.00 worth of seeds down the drain. These crazy temperature swings we've been having lately are too severe for anything except for the trees and shrubs to survive. Temperatures going from 8 degrees to 80 degrees and visa~versa in a matter of two weeks are just too much to endure.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Mar 22, 2022 19:19:17 GMT -6
Hmm. I just noticed that my reply did not actually post from when I typed it earlier today. I think I have a bad habit of hitting the “Reply” button at the top instead of the “Post Quick Reply” button at the bottom as I am supposed to. I’m typing this so that maybe it will help me pay attention to the proper button this time.
Bon and Heavyhitterokra, thank you both for your encouragement. I really appreciate it. I think one of the things that makes this particular forum so nice is not just the valuable information and advice that are so readily shared but the great group of people who do the sharing. Thank you.
I seeded six starts of greens: three of the Dinosaur Kale and three of Komatsuna. I actually saw some tiny shoots coming up from the Komatsuna today. It will be interesting to see how quickly they develop.
I haven’t worked in the soil of the bed yet. I want to get out there and take a look soon.
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Kale
Mar 25, 2022 7:57:35 GMT -6
macmex likes this
Post by chrysanthemum on Mar 25, 2022 7:57:35 GMT -6
Bon, I got out to the garden a couple days ago with a pitchfork. I wanted to turn in some amendments to my soil in the bed where I hope to put the greens (both Komatsuna and Kale are sprouting now inside). While I was doing that, I dug down to the bottom of the bed in a couple of places. The rotten wood has decayed a lot, and the soil looks good throughout the bed, but I still couldn’t get the pitchfork below the surface we built on. I figure it’s pretty much limestone rock down there, and nothing much seems to have changed since we put in this bed about three years ago. Plants can probably sneak little feeder roots down there, but I can’t really imagine trying to grow a garden in this location without the raised beds and soil building. I was excited to see a couple of earthworms, though it was only a couple.
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Kale
Aug 4, 2022 17:02:23 GMT -6
Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 4, 2022 17:02:23 GMT -6
Bon,
Those are so beautiful!
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Kale
Aug 4, 2022 20:26:14 GMT -6
Post by hmoosek on Aug 4, 2022 20:26:14 GMT -6
@bon Those stalks look sturdy! I bought some Kale and Japanese greens from Remy back in 2018. I’m not sure what all is in my jar. It’s not been inventoried yet. I’ve had the best luck with the komatsuna and sempoisai type greens, but I love kale too!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 5, 2022 14:18:44 GMT -6
Double dug below. Plant spacing is too close. Drought this summer and horrendous direct sun and heat this summer, but these babies continued to kick out and make excellent treats for the bun buns. Going to attempt to Save Seed when they bolt next summer. Good for winter hunger gap.
29JUL22
Bon, those look absolutely amazing! I know you’ve had heat and drought, but those plants look like they’re growing somewhere with moderate temperatures and good rainfall. My greens failed completely a second time, but it was because of cabbage worms. Given the infestations I was seeing, I decided it was better to pull the food source and drown the worms. I couldn’t keep up with handpicking, and it would have been hard to spray in the heat and sunshine. Those photos are inspiring me to plant some more. (I did grow some dwarf Siberian kale inside for a while, but in my little Aerogarden system, I just coudn’t grow enough to make a reasonable side dish for our family. When I needed to start seeds in the Aerogarden, I did attempt to transplant the plants, and they actually survived despite my having to do pretty extensive root damage. They have started growing a bit even. They look nothing like those beautiful plants up there, though.)
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Kale
Aug 5, 2022 20:46:00 GMT -6
Post by hmoosek on Aug 5, 2022 20:46:00 GMT -6
@bon chrysanthemumI ordered quite a bit today. I managed to get some Red Veined Sorrel, Red Leaf Amaranth, Ethiopian Kale, Premier Kale. I’m so made at myself though. I had Semposai in my cart, but I noticed it was missing when I checked out. Grrrrr!
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Kale
Aug 6, 2022 10:16:34 GMT -6
spike likes this
Post by rdback on Aug 6, 2022 10:16:34 GMT -6
@bon chrysanthemum I ordered quite a bit today....I had Semposai in my cart, but I noticed it was missing when I checked out. Grrrrr!
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Kale
Aug 6, 2022 10:28:51 GMT -6
rdback likes this
Post by hmoosek on Aug 6, 2022 10:28:51 GMT -6
rdback yeah, I’m gonna blame it on her! Seems like a good excuse as any! Hahahaaa!
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spike
New Member
Posts: 39
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Post by spike on Aug 6, 2022 14:35:28 GMT -6
MWAHAHAHA wait till he gets his amazon bill . . .
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Post by chrysanthemum on Sept 7, 2022 18:50:50 GMT -6
I just thought I’d update this thread a bit. The dwarf Siberian kale that I had inside until I needed the space in the Aerogarden did actually survive outside, and we just had a little side dish from a harvest of it the other day. It’s not prolific, but it’s managing. I’ll see if I can keep it going for more now that the weather is cooler. I started Lacinato/Tuscan/Dinosaur kale a while back in some little grow sponges, and I set them out in the garden recently. It was supposed to be rainy and cloudy for a few days after I transplanted, but the forecast changed back to more sunshine, so I was having to water the young transplants both morning and evening. The kale seems to have settled in. My big worry has been that I’ll get hit once again with cabbage worms. The other day I was watching a gardening video, and the woman who posted it mentioned having picked up wire wastebaskets at the Dollar Tree. They looked like something that might keep out cabbage moths, so I visited a Dollar Tree when I had to go to a nearby city yesterday and took a look. I decided they just might do, and maybe I can even line them with tulle in the future against my nemesis the Squash Vine Borer to give my plants a head start. This is my row of kale and cauliflower. I put my pinky finger in the picture to give an idea of the size of the weaving. That’s my tiny kale at the bottom. They’re not that big, but I figure if I can get my plants a bit larger before they start getting attacked, that will make them stronger to withstand the inevitable damage that will come. Dollar store prices have risen to $1.25, but I figured three baskets cost me about what one bag of non-organic kale at the grocery store costs.
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Kale
Sept 7, 2022 20:47:00 GMT -6
Post by woodeye on Sept 7, 2022 20:47:00 GMT -6
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Post by woodeye on Sept 8, 2022 6:24:48 GMT -6
I just thought I’d update this thread a bit. The dwarf Siberian kale that I had inside until I needed the space in the Aerogarden did actually survive outside, and we just had a little side dish from a harvest of it the other day. It’s not prolific, but it’s managing. I’ll see if I can keep it going for more now that the weather is cooler. I started Lacinato/Tuscan/Dinosaur kale a while back in some little grow sponges, and I set them out in the garden recently. It was supposed to be rainy and cloudy for a few days after I transplanted, but the forecast changed back to more sunshine, so I was having to water the young transplants both morning and evening. The kale seems to have settled in. My big worry has been that I’ll get hit once again with cabbage worms. The other day I was watching a gardening video, and the woman who posted it mentioned having picked up wire wastebaskets at the Dollar Tree. They looked like something that might keep out cabbage moths, so I visited a Dollar Tree when I had to go to a nearby city yesterday and took a look. I decided they just might do, and maybe I can even line them with tulle in the future against my nemesis the Squash Vine Borer to give my plants a head start. This is my row of kale and cauliflower. I put my pinky finger in the picture to give an idea of the size of the weaving. That’s my tiny kale at the bottom. They’re not that big, but I figure if I can get my plants a bit larger before they start getting attacked, that will make them stronger to withstand the inevitable damage that will come. Dollar store prices have risen to $1.25, but I figured three baskets cost me about what one bag of non-organic kale at the grocery store costs. chrysanthemum , I've thought about this extensively over the course of several weeks:
You have got to be the most industrious lady that I know. And I am 100% certain that there is nobody that can possibly prove me wrong...
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