They look like collards.

I vote for a Georgia type collards, which I think are better than kale anyway, though I grow both. Same species.

3rd vote collards, I just made some soup with some of mine and am enjoying it right now!

Yes. Collards. Very hardy, tastes even better after it freezes a few times.

Looks like a Collard to me.

Really? I thought collards were round and didn't have the sections in their leaves. Could this be a cross between kale and collards? At any rate, it sounds great and your description of it makes it sound like it would be quite a coveted swap item.

One more for collards.

But unlike planatus, I prefer growing Kale -- All bitter greens need help in the flavor dept IMHO -- They're bitter! SO Kale tastes just like collards to me, especially after I "help" them in the kitchen.

The reason why I prefer to GROW kale is that I don't have to remove the woody stem from MOST of the harvested leaves and they're a lot more slower to bolt. I can leave my Kale growing for well over a year.

Either way-- nice looking plants EMCD.

Kevin

I guess being in Zone 10, you wouldn't get many frosts or anything like that. In the lower zones, they get frosts and so they don't get bitter.

stuffradio:

Where I'm at(about 20 miles from coast), we get a few frosty nights per year and they don't seem to "sweeten" up my greens. From what I understand, frosts just take away "some" bitterness.

There's a reason why they're called BITTER greens...they're bitter. There's also a reason why almost every recipe for collard greens calls for a tad of sugar...to balance out the bitter.

Kevin

Hey Kevin -- I've had kale plants growing for going on 5 years now -- still producing! Those old plants produce tender leaves year round, and if they want to bolt I just let them. They are much healthier than my newer plants -- and the stalks are becoming like small trees now. The bugs completely leave them alone -- I figure it's because they're so healthy with deep root system. I rotate the bed around them -- garlic one year, then peas, etc, and those kale plants just keep on keeping on.

Elisa:

Yep. Kale always just keeps on trucking along for me. Though I don't let them go any longer than the point they start to peter out on me. I rotate my crops with limited space AND I rototill. They would just get in the way. I just start 2-3 plants each late summer and they supply me enough all year long.

No problems in zone5 and freezing?

Kevin

The varieties that last through our rough winters are Beedy's Camden and Winterbor -- both from Fedco, and both survived their overwinter trials uncovered (in Maine). I sometimes leave them uncovered and sometimes do a half hearted covering job on these plants -- with some agricultural fleece, but generally our coldest temps come when there is enough snow to cover them anyway. Red Russian kale does not last year to year, and neither does scotch curled.

I'm doing no till, so that makes it easy. I can just imagine a roto-tilled plot with three kale plant in the middle :)

Woohooman, that's not my experience though. The colder temps and frosts release the sugars in the plant, and it's not bitter. Maybe it's just the varieties you're growing though, I don't know. I'm just saying that's not what happens for me. They are bitter during the Summer, and Summer heat, and as the fall comes and goes, Kale is not bitter. I have never added sugar to my Kale. I'm not attacking you, just saying what has happened in my case.

Those leaves are shaped more like broc and cauli than they are collard. Same color as all three. Obviously it isn't either of the first two, but likely is in the Oleracea group. Pretty interesting.

Curly leaves will depend on the kale you grew. Still have the seed packet?

My Red Russian kale.

tj

Somehow I lost it or it blew away . Those leaves are over a foot long . I remember planting from a kale packet but this is the first time I have ever planted kale and the mistake I made is I took some potting soil from a little raised bed since it was fine and fluffy and use it to cover the seed . The bad part is the small raised bed had had a ton of deer forage in it that I was just letting grow for compost addition but I didn't water the deer forage very much and only a few plants sprouted. I have done a little research And think it looks like a kale variety called "premier smooth leaf" but I have no recall of what the packet said .

Good news it's growing great

bad news is I don't know if I should eat it . Doh!

It is kale. Just don't know which.

tj

I do know my local hardware store only carried burpee seed so that narrows it I think . Thanks

Ah ha . It's gotta be this one . Unless they don't have another one not listed now . Thanks for brainstorming with me !

Kale, Dwarf Blue Curled Vates

But if you google that variety most photos look like curly edges ? What gives ? With an exception of a few Google images here and their .

Burpee sells some varieties in-store that they don't sell online and vice versa.

Dwarf Blue Curled Vates is, as the name suggests, curly. It's not the variety you show in your pic.

Rodney

I agree with Rodney, definitely not DBCV. Possibly Red Russian but I have not grown RR for several years. Anyway, should make for some good compost additions if nothing else. My chickens love all Kale so they get the bigger leaves and I only use the small tender leaves.

I looks like red but why would the veins look white not tinted?

Red Russian does have pinkish veins, so yours is something else, clintster7. I just found one called White Russian, so that is maybe what you have

elisa_z, thanks for sharing your experience with overwintering Kale. I've not succeeded with it (the voles like kale) but will plan to leave a few plants of my red Russian this year to see how it fares. Next year I'll look into one of your hardier varieties since I love plants that I can harvest until deep snow and then again in early spring.

I have been growing Red Russian for about 15 years now and over that span I'd say 6-7 times a plant or three made it through winter. Just enough to keep me in seeds. The only protection they got was from snow cover. I even had some sprout from the base in spring after the ugly top was cut off in December. The biggest threat to my kale is my dogs. They absolutely love it and have dug through 2 feet of snow to get to a buried stalk.

tj

Wow I guess o missed the post from November 5 2012 from thatcompostguy . I have not had a freeze yet so I'll have at the large leafs and I'm betting my leafs may curl up after mild frost in a few weeks from now .

Getting back to original post, google Beira kale or look at Johnny's seed website. I've been growing this kale variety for a few years now and like it but many dispute it isn't kale. It is sometimes called Portuguese cabbage. It cooks tender before collard greens and is less strong tasting. My customers love it.

Definitely possible. Beira Tronchuda is pretty widely available. Usually listed as a loose leaf cabbage. Actually that is also the definition of a collard.

Google a pic of Galicia Kale.Wildly grown in Spain and Portugal !