Welcome fellow kale growers. Post any and all photos, thoughts, notes, observations, etc. concerning the GTS Leafy Brassica oleracea blend and/or other kales you may be growing. I am re-growing my ‘Ridiculously Cold Hardy’ seed crop this year (harvested in spring of 2024) in hopes of seeing even more seed production in 2026 - I will be challenging the genetics in various ways while also giving some of the plants slight protections to better ensure some seeds (prayer hands) in 2026. Though my 2023 GTS kales were essentially all obliterated in January of 2024 I have many plants that made it in my drafty leaky so called greenhouse this season through a month of 10 F -to- -15 F. That basic protection from wind and raw unbridled air makes a difference at those temps. I believe my entire outdoor crop (entirely unprotected) is nearly all dead. I continue to hope for some anomalies there. I will continue to push the boundaries of cold tolerance out my way.
I managed to plant my first indoor kale beds this past week. I will shift to outdoor grows in the next two weeks. In doing so, I will companion plant these with my tree collard clone cuttings I took last fall that made it through the same recent winter in one gallon pots in the same greenhouse. These will likely mostly bolt out of the gates (in my experience) but they do well with a flower pruning and eating. AND, if I get insta seeds I won’t complain. After all, where I live, I eat anything edible that grows.
(First 2025 Leafy Kale GTS plantings under straw in large bed - thin bed along wall is warm season salad mix and mesclun mix from Adaptive Seeds)
(Pictured in pots above - made it in gh cover through -15 F and many negative nights in January)
I even harvested from the main garden through the last 10 days of December - a first for our time in our mountain valley here (the past five plus years). Included here real live leafy B. oleracea grown in the real live climate under the real sun December 21st-through-December 31st harvests. (Not available in stores - we ate these)
Typically by mid November we’ve started having our first snows. And typically by mid-December we have had some absurdly cold weather. This winter was different. With a mild La Niña, we experienced a kind of push of the coldest weather by 2 weeks to a month. OR, was that simply by the grace of the weather gods the Arctic blobs were repeatedly pushed east of the Continental Divide?
None the less, what was once bumping for over 7 months…
Keep in mind, until the January cold arrived these plants had all routinely experienced nights of 10-15 F weather. They were also bumping when day-time temps never rose above 30 F. Once the leafy Brassicas I’ve worked with (roughly 40-50 known cultivars) face an onslaught of 0-10F day time weather with 0 - to - (insert your negative temps here), I find they almost always need some semblance of protection. Although, I should add, the Russo-Siberian complex alone shows great promise in this regard and I should likely re-introduce a dedicated section to this cause. I digress. This could be a low growing sprawling bed covered by snow and ice. This could be some semblance of wind protection by a cold frame and a chicken house to its rear like this collard/kale offshoot hybrid that has lived through -40F and become a sort of pseudo small-leaved perennial for our salads (produces very dainty fun small leaves perfect for salad mixes and sauteeing - no prep needed!)
That may not look like much currently but those purple stems at this time of year mean everything - more seeds and more salad greens. This candidate will yet again make it into my ‘Ridiculously cold hardy leafy B. oleracea’ blend in 2025. I will be trialing my strongest survivors in three beds this year - one bare; one protected by only GH plastic; one protected by row cover and GH plastic. All three beds will be in the naked outdoors so no surrounding building structure to add thermal mass or elemental protections.
Some Purple Croatian Tree collard cuttings (from a friend in Corbett, Oregon wanting to test their hardiness) in front of Skillcult’s First offering Rashtan Tree Collard this year (these will purely be a harvest and cloning annual here) next to my favorite clones from this past season. The last season will almost
surely bolt to flower (most already have) but I’ll harvest throughout and ultimately
aim for more seeds.
How do you like these compared to other oleracea you’ve grown? I’ve got a few seedlings that survived the abuse I put them through, so this will be my first successful (I hope!) year growing them.
This will be my first year growing so I really don’t
know yet. Currently they are nubbers in pots. I sent half my Rashtan seeds and cuttings down to the same friend in Corbett hoping to see better results in his infinitely easier climate. Rougher for Oregon but I pretty much farm
on Mars
Ooops. I guess we’ll be trying them together!
Last year I started some, and ended up with a seedling that had variegated seed & first leaves… unfortunately when everything went sideways here, they didn’t survive.
Between the tree collards, the perennial kale grex, and the GTS offerings plus some other goodies, I’m going to be over-flowing with leafy brassica this year. Apparently overplanting them expecting that temperature and moisture swings/abuse would take out enough seedlings to leave me with a reasonable number was the WRONG plan…
This year’s GTS Leafy Brassica oleracea seed mix is really quite eager and vigorous. Outside direct sown are the most robust of all my sown brassica seeds to date - they’ve breezed vigorously through weeks of hard frosts without a care in the world:
Keep in mind it is a very very cool spring here overall so these plants aren’t really feeling super stoked to jump up and live. They are mainly hanging out with vigor and poise waiting for more easeful growing conditions.
The greenhouse sown GtS seeds are also quite robust early as they hang out in the understory of last years plants setting flower and going to see (gods willing)
BtW, that curly red veined kale may be the most vigorous kale plant I have ever grown. She is a real beast having made it through three winters including a 5-day exterior temp -40F scenario two winters back.. Her main leader then rotted and died off and She quadrupled in size. Very choice napus type phenotype and tendencies. Her leaves remain extremely palatable throughout her lifecycles. Winner Winner Kale Leaf Dinner.
