Leafy Goodness

Leafy goodness

Whether you whizz it up in a green smoothie, use in a stir fry, bake into chips, add to a frittata or mix in with pasta or rice dishes, kale is a healthy and versatile vegie that’s become increasingly popular over recent years.

Kale is rich in vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre, as well as having the health benefits of other plants in the brassica family. Yates Kale Tuscan is a mild flavoured variety that can be cut from around 7 weeks

Kale Growing Tips

Kale can be sown directly where they are to grow or sown 6mm deep in trays filled with Yates Seed Raising Mix and the seedlings transplanted into a sunny or semi shade spot when around 4-6cm high. Kale can also be grown in containers, making it ideal for courtyard and balcony gardens.
It’s important to feed leafy vegies like kale with a nitrogen (N) rich complete plant food, with nitrogen being the key nutrient that promotes green leaf growth. A ‘complete’ plant food is one that contains the 3 main elements for plant growth – nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Seaweed alone does not provide plants with all the nutrition they require for healthy growth and can result in poorly performing plants and a reduced harvest.
It’s easy to supply kale with all the nutrients it needs by feeding each week with Yates Thrive Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food, a complete plant food that’s rich in nitrogen. Dilute 1 – 2 capfuls in a 9 L watering can and apply over the foliage and surrounding soil or potting mix for container grown kale.
Protect young kale seedlings from snails and slugs with a light sprinkling of Yates Blitzem™ Snail & Slug Pellets.
Keep an eye out for small white butterflies which flutter around the vegie patch. They are likely to be cabbage white butterflies, which lay their yellow eggs onto the leaves of brassica vegies like kale. Tiny but voracious caterpillars hatch out of these eggs and soon grow into green caterpillars around 3 cm long which can decimate kale leaves. Yates Success Ultra is an easy way to control caterpillars on kale. Spray kale every 1 – 2 weeks, ensuring leaves are sprayed to the point of run off.