My winter kale and chard

**mdvpc** · December 5, 2008

I cant grow lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, arugula, mache, etc during the spring or summer because of our heat. So I grow them outside and in the greenhouse during the late fall and winter. My kale and chard are beautiful now and Rosalina and I dont let them get too big-we like them not full size to harvest and put in soups, or stir-frys, or just saute with oilive oil and garlic. The first photo is a Portugese Kale, the second is an Italian chard.

Sherry_AK · December 5, 2008

Michael -- Great looking greens! What's the difference between Swiss Chard and Italian Chard?

Sherry

Medbury Gardens · December 5, 2008

sherry i grew Swiss Chard in a 4x4 meter block for seed last season, as a result the residual seed pops up every where,the beans in the photo are due to be weeded next week along with the Swiss Chard in the photo

Richard

Sherry_AK · December 6, 2008

Richard, the birds plucked out most of my Swiss Chard babies last year, so I had very little. And I do love Craig's recipe for Swiss Chard Tart, which we had only once last year. Darn birds! A 4 x 4 meter block would be quite a lot.

Sherry

Tomaat · December 6, 2008

Richard, don't be sad about the volunteers, pull it up and cook it so it won't go waste

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I had lots of Oriental vegetable volunteer and several other leafy vegetables (plus squash,tomato and pepper/chilies)...no problem, either end up on our dining table or go to the compost bin...

Tomaat · December 6, 2008

Your Kale look yummy, you can use the young leaves in the salad too...ohh I am hungry...

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdvpc

I cant grow lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, arugula, mache, etc during the spring or summer because of our heat. So I grow them outside and in the greenhouse during the late fall and winter. My kale and chard are beautiful now and Rosalina and I dont let them get too big-we like them not full size to harvest and put in soups, or stir-frys, or just saute with oilive oil and garlic. The first photo is a Portugese Kale, the second is an Italian chard.

**mdvpc** · December 6, 2008

Sherry-I was unclear-the seed is from growitalian.com and its a chard from Puglia. Chard and Kale are so good, and the nutritional content is so good also. I may try and grow Chard in the shade nest spring, cause we really miss it during the hot months. We like to juice it also-but you need to grow a lot to use it for juice.

Ruth_10 · December 6, 2008

One of my favorite kales is Dwarf Blue Curled Vates. I can keep it going for most of the fall and winter here and it often starts up again in the spring. I like to pull of a handful to eat right on the spot when I go out to the garden in the fall/winter. I have not tried to grow it during the summer here--I think it wouldn't do that well in the heat.

My fall chard got eaten by bunnies.

**mdvpc** · December 6, 2008

Ruth-Those are some happy bunnies!

habitat_gardener · December 16, 2008

Tell me more about the Portuguese kale. I love kale, especially in the winter. I grow dinosaur (or Tuscan or black) kale, red Russian kale, and walking kale (aka tree collards) year-round.

**mdvpc** · December 16, 2008

Habitat-I got it from Seeds from Italy. Its pale green, and we saute it whole, stems and all. Excellent taste. What else can I tell you?

December 6, 2008	#7
mdvpc Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 4,386	Sherry-I was unclear-the seed is from growitalian.com and its a chard from Puglia. Chard and Kale are so good, and the nutritional content is so good also. I may try and grow Chard in the shade nest spring, cause we really miss it during the hot months. We like to juice it also-but you need to grow a lot to use it for juice. __________________ Michael

December 6, 2008	#8
Ruth_10 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MO z6a near St. Louis Posts: 1,349	One of my favorite kales is Dwarf Blue Curled Vates. I can keep it going for most of the fall and winter here and it often starts up again in the spring. I like to pull of a handful to eat right on the spot when I go out to the garden in the fall/winter. I have not tried to grow it during the summer here--I think it wouldn't do that well in the heat. My fall chard got eaten by bunnies. __________________ --Ruth Some say the glass half-full. Others say the glass is half-empty. To an engineer, it’s twice as big as it needs to be.

December 6, 2008	#9
mdvpc Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 4,386	Ruth-Those are some happy bunnies! __________________ Michael

December 16, 2008	#11
mdvpc Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 4,386	Habitat-I got it from Seeds from Italy. Its pale green, and we saute it whole, stems and all. Excellent taste. What else can I tell you? __________________ Michael

December 5, 2008	#2
Sherry_AK Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Alaska Zone 3/4 Posts: 1,857	Michael -- Great looking greens! What's the difference between Swiss Chard and Italian Chard? Sherry

December 6, 2008	#5
Tomaat Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 154	Richard, don't be sad about the volunteers, pull it up and cook it so it won't go waste . I had lots of Oriental vegetable volunteer and several other leafy vegetables (plus squash,tomato and pepper/chilies)...no problem, either end up on our dining table or go to the compost bin...

December 16, 2008	#10
habitat_gardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: California Central Valley Posts: 2,543	Tell me more about the Portuguese kale. I love kale, especially in the winter. I grow dinosaur (or Tuscan or black) kale, red Russian kale, and walking kale (aka tree collards) year-round.