My two favorite seedlings for this project, which definitely need to be planted out for some more space… First, the pretty Mermaid’s Aurora seedling with the dissected cotyledons:
And then this lovely perennial kale seedling which is a very rich green and shiny like a greasy collard (compared in pic to another “normal” perennial kale seedling from the group.) Most of the seedlings in this batch resemble the matte leaf with varying shades of purple or green on the veins.
I’ve gotten the occasional oddball with 3 cotyledons, or off-shaped/warped ones, but never obviously healthy dissected ones. That plant is doing great, and I’m going to be violating my hands-off tendencies a bit with it to make sure it survives to make seed if possible.
Is this because of all the Diversity & wide crossing?
Feels like the Landrace Gardening style creates more opportunities for these fun happy little accidents to occur!
It’s possible. As I understand it, the Mermaid’s Aurora was a cross between Hen Peck Collards and a cabbage that was itself a result of breeding between purple and green cone-headed cabbages. So there’s a little diversity there already, and this might have been a little bit of serendipity popping out of the crosses. I’m going to be keeping an eye on the offspring for this trait, just in case it’s something cool and not a random one-off.
I’m about to plant out the rest of my perennial kale keepers today… a friend is taking half a dozen of the “fine, but don’t look like anything special” ones, and the community garden will be getting a couple, with the rest of the ones I held back for myself put into my main garden at home. And the surviving Reckless Oleracea starts from 2024 and 2025 GTS Kale+ mixes that I’ve properly abused (minimal watering, temperature swings, etc) are all going to be planted out in a “may the odds be in your favor” bed… after that, whatever lives, lives. Lol
I am sad. Something has decided some of my brassicas are delicious, and has been eating them down to the ground. I lost the one with the fancy cotyledons, and the greasy collard-looking perennial kale may have been lost, too, though it may still have a chance. Others are doing fine so far, so I haven’t lost everything, but I did lose most of my favorites. Such is the way of the benign neglect garden, I suppose.
I had been working my garlic population for 7 years. Seven. And, well,
like cells regenerating in the body, pocket
gophers decided I had been working for
them
the entire time
I haven’t had the heart to start anew (or maybe I’m too lazy to double dig and line w hardware cloth)
