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.
This year’s GTS Leafy oleracea definitely have some rogue non-oleracea Brassica seeds in there . We definitely have some mustards in the blend from somewhere somehow. I mixed all these seeds. Surely
they were in one of the grab bags added in - we had many contributions. My direct sown mix in the coldest
part of my main garden are beginning to really
fill in. Great germination this season - unlike the Spinach oleracea which appear to be a mixed bag across the board.
None the less this truly is a Reckless oleracea leafy blend. Lol. Lotta mustards found there ways in here. Fear not if ewe feel you have bolting kales/collards. Those are very much most likely juncea or rapa
I just bought a pound of forage collard seeds to scatter about. Brassicas seem to do very well as near-weeds in my garden. I figure this is a cheap way to experiment. By the way, I have never witnessed deer foraging on any of my brassicas in real life. They are definitely regular visitors to my garden, but they are mostly interested in browsing on blackberry shoots.
Mine are definitely all mixed up as well and I don’t really need to parse them out. I’m more speaking to a classic Russo-Siberian / Dutch-Siberian / Kale-Coalition purple veined; in the mold of red russian or frilly napus appearance. I’m probably just saying a meaningless word salad. It’s a kale.
Some 2024 GTS B. olearacea (ish) Over wintered miracles. No protection. 10 F - to - -15 F entire month of January into early February. I discovered these weeding to prep for
more kale transplants - I temd to direct sow
uber early
in my
frost heavy period and then back up into 4"-6" sprinklings
of various kales and tree collards.
Never ceases to amaze. This lil cluster is growng from the root zone of a dead stick aerial. Looks like a ‘Red Russian’ type or some Russo-Siberian cultivar. Hence, likely not
oleracea but does that really matter? Not in my
opinion.
These two leafy Brassicas have been flowering and seeding in this wee microclimate protection by a cold frame for three years straight. They keep being back-mixed into my ongoing side hustle of ‘Ridiculously Cold Hardy Kales and Collards’ blend of seed. I grow a bed or two out every year at present.
AND, I continue to find the ‘Ultracross collards’ blend of genetics ridiculously cold hardy at large. This area has ben back planted w broccoli starts and it has a rogue gopher transplanted garlic but if you zoom in and about there are a bevy of mini cold hardened wrinkly collard plants. These will hopefully flower and produce seed for the above Cold Hardy blend. Collards are way hardier than people tend to think in my experiences.
Here is bed 1 of the Ridiculously Cold Hardy direct
sown first plantings of this season. They are finally beginning to unravel their ongoing hard frost
onslaught of the past month plus:
Yeah, ive got some collards, mustard, napus kale, bok choy, mizuna, turnips and others all finding their way into my oleracea mix. I like the idea of just calling them leafy brassicas and be done with it.
Does this thread correspond to the kale+ seed mix? The species name in the thread title is throwing me. I do like the concept of “leafy brassica” as an organizing concept.
I generally agree on the ‘Leafy Brassica’ concept. I’m not one to get all too finicky when I’m dealing with leafy ‘kales’ anyway - they all have that vintage mustard taste I personally love. The only ‘issue’ I could potentially see there for gardeners and or small farmers using such a seed blend would be it would be highly beneficial (from a seed saving perspective) that they have an innate ability to discern between annual seed bearers vs. bi-annual seed bearers. It’s obviously not that challenging of a skill to learn but it could be a wee off-putting for beginners or early growers, so to speak. This year, it is quite abundantly clear we have a very Brassica mix and the oleracea is highly represented in there but there are most definitely some annual flower/seed producers in that mix for sure.
I’ve grown a family heirloom tree collard I got as seed from an old neighbor for years, along with various seed catalog kales and the occasional cabbage. Last year I grew out a few test plants from a collard type brassica I collected a handful of seed from growing wild along the SW Coast Path in Cornwall and they did well with no signs of disease and were more resilient against the slug/snail, caterpillar, and aphid pressures in my garden. This is the first time I’m letting everything cross. My goals are to increase the diversity of color and flavor profiles in my leafy brassicas while improving vigor and pest resistance.
My cross-pollination partner admiring her maturing seed pods.
Potential crosses include: Dazzling blue kale, Cascade glaze collards, red Russian kale, wild Cornish collards, heirloom tree collards, and one filderkraut heading cabbage that has overwintered twice and produced a head of cabbage every year.
. We definitely have some mustards in the blend from somewhere somehow. I mixed all these seeds. Surely
