Collards & Kale - how to stop little green catepiller
ramonamarie
12 years ago
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digdirt2
12 years agobarbe_wa
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Kale and Collards growing again
Comments (8)I have posted about it before, but I am totally amazed at the plants I left in the ground last fall. I tried for a fall garden, but couldn't succession-plant behind my summer veggies soon enough, so the fall stuff didn't produce much before winter came on. It got down below zero in early December, and basically all of the unprotected veggies except the Brussel's sprouts and kale "burned down" to the ground, and I wrote them off. The sprouting broccoli and tiny spinach and lettuce seedlings I had in containers in the greenhouse just sat there all winter. We're having an early spring, and I should be able to pick myself a lettuce and spinach salad this weekend. I'm also very close to having a batch of Brussels sprouts and some broccoli. The thing I find most amazing is that the arugula stayed green through most of the winter, and began growing earlier than anything else in the garden. Most of the purple kohlrabi did die, but a couple seem to be coming back. The leeks and green onions have also made a comeback, and my carrots have resumed growth, as well as the mustard greens. The kale has been fairly constant, and the radishes have even sprung back to life. I am interested to find out if there is any quality/taste in these veggies after their harsh winter, but overall, I am astounded that everything survived so well. We usually don't get below 10F all winter, so I'm thinking with some plastic hoop houses, everything will do even better....See Moregrowing smaller greens under collards or kale?
Comments (6)I'm not sure where you are or how hot it gets? You also didn't mention if you want to grow these greens during the spring/summer/fall/winter? I sometimes have luck growing some of the greens under a green bean "tent" to shade things during the summer. Other times it just gets too hot!I also have a shady area that those kinds of things do well in. Most greens in my area (8ish, No CA) do great in the fall/winter/spring. A little info would be great! Nancy...See MoreCollard Greens/Lars
Comments (19)Petra, I agree with Mustangs as I don't know why you want this pulled or that you want to stop posting. I saw your smiley and I did one too at the end. You did state just Southern states (even after Mustangs and I posted) and believe me people cook this way all over the US and beyond and like it. You just prefer them a different way which is fine but there is nothing wrong with a person that wants to cook them to "mush" as you call it either. My MIL was born and raised in Pekin, IL and cooks them that way. She is far from the South. Some people have very warm memories of the days of eating that food that their grandmother cooked in the country. Maybe not for you but for others, yes. Those people are gone out of our lives and it's a way to "feel" like they are with us again. Plus, there is nothing wrong with Southern Cooking IMO. I don't cook like that everyday. I think a lot of people watch Paula on TV and think that we eat that way morning, noon and night and that is just not true....See MoreVegetable Challenge: Collard Greens
Comments (7)Here's what I do with all the leafy bitter greens, including collards, and I think they are wonderful this way. I never liked them before I started doing this, and now I eat them all the time. Fill your big pasta pot 3/4 with water, and put it on to boil. Cut out the tough stems, make a stack of the leaves, roll them up side to side, and slice the roll into ribbons about an inch or so wide. Then after that, swish them around in a big basin of cold water, lift them out into a colander, and let them drain a bit. (Much easier to wash them after you cut them than before.) When the water is boiling, add a generous tablespoon of salt and one of sugar, stir it around, dump the greens in, sink them into the water, cover the pot and bring it back to the boil, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for about 15 minutes. Cook them longer if the leaves are very big and tough, but no more than 25 minutes. Drain the greens in the colander, and dump them back into the pot while there is still some water clinging to them. The juices will be the pot liquor, which is delicious and nutritious. Add a generous knob of unsalted butter, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, and add a generous grinding of black pepper. Yum! You can also cook some good lean bacon until it is well done but not powdery, drain it, and crumble it into the finished greens. Another variation, which makes a wonderful lunch, is to cut up some potatoes into 2" chunks, cook them for five or ten minutes in the water before you add the greens, and then proceed in the same way, including the bacon at the end. Delicious, and very good for you (if you reason that a little butter and a little bacon, being natural foods, are good for you in reasonable amounts, and makes you so happy that they boost your good health..)....See Morepnbrown
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12 years ago
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