Kale is one of the healthiest vegetables in the entire world and it’s a superfood because it is packed full of nutrition and flavor. In this article, I’ll cover everything you need to know how to grow the kale plant. I’ll be covering the complete growing process from seed to harvest. So let’s get started.
6 easy steps to grow kale plant from seeds
1. To grow kale plant start with sowing seeds
I find anything I can reuse to start my seeds such as paper towel rolls and eggshells. I added growing medium to paper towel rolls and also added growing medium to eggshells and then placed eggshells in the egg carton.
Now I planted seeds in each container and the seeds germinate in just five days. Little kale plants appeared out of the eggshells.
I like using paper towel rolls because you can plant the entire plant including the paper towel roll in your garden and the paper towel roll will decompose naturally.
2. Transplant the kale plants in the garden
After 10 to 14 days the kale plants are ready to transplant in the garden. Kale plant grows best in full sun and soil enriched with organic compost.
Simply break the eggshell and place a plant including the eggshell in your garden and cover it with soil. The eggshell will decompose naturally and provide calcium to the plant. plant spacing should be 18 inches apart and row spacing should be anywhere from 18 inches to 2 feet apart.
3. Water the kale plant
Water the plant after planting and keep watering every day or every couple of days to keep the soil moist. The best time to plant kale is in fall and spring, I started my kale plants in fall.
After three weeks the kale plants start to grow bigger and new and tender leaf starts to grow out of the kale plants. It is absolutely incredible and so satisfying to watch something grow that you planted yourself.
4. Waffle gardening practice to keep the soil moist for kale plants
After a month the kale plant continues to grow however we didn’t get any more rain the soil began to dry up. The growth of my kale plants was stunted so I created a depression all around each one of my kale plants so that the water that sits around the plants goes deeper into the soil and feeds the root.
This method is called waffle gardening, this gardening practice was developed by the Zuni people in New Mexico in the 1800s. Waffle gardening conserves water and provides deep watering for the plants.
Using this method I was able to keep the soil moist for my kale plants for longer periods of time. My kale plants continue to thrive and study to become bigger and bigger.
5. Protecting Kale plant from pests
The most common pests that affect kale is Aphids. Aphids suck the juice out on the plant stunting the growth of the plant. If left unchecked aphids can multiply really fast and can even kill the plants.
Our ally in the battle against aphids is ladybugs. Ladybugs are natural predators of aphids. You can buy or attract ladybugs for your garden to combat the aphids.
You can also play organic spray to get rid of aphids. At a tablespoon of neem oil and a tablespoon of pure castile soap to the sparrow, add two gallons of water, pump the sprayer and spray away.
I also added mulcher on my kale cleanse to suppress the reads and keep the soil moist. Regular spraying at least once a week and keep it on top of aphids will create beautiful and lush plants.
Also read How to get rid of fungus gnats from plants [4 Step process]
6. Harvesting kale
After two months the plants are about ten to twelve inches high and at this point you can start harvesting Kale leaves.
To harvest the leaves cut the leaves from the bottom of the plant. As the plant grows you can continue to harvest the leaves from the bottom of the plant so that the top leaves continue to grow. These leaves are really good sauteed.
Kale is frost resistant and can handle freezing temperatures. We got a lot of frost in December and kale survived like a champ. The colder it gets the sweeter the kale leaves get, one week in December we got Frost five days in a row and temperature plunge below freezing at night. The growth of kale was stunted however kale did manage to survive and as soon as the Sun appeared kale started to grow vigorously soon after that
I absolutely love how sunlight penetrates through the kale leaves, these look absolutely gorgeous and they can actually be used in landscaping around house as well. Hey you can build an actual landscape garden that you can eat from
You can harvest kale leaves from the bottom of the plant all throughout its lifecycle leaving just about four to five sets of leaves on top. After three months the kale plants are 2 feet tall and loaded with leaves.
Constantly picking leaves from the plant and this will increase the plant to become bigger and produce more leaves.
You can just snap the kale leaves right off the plant and you can make kale chips or a kale salad. I really hope you enjoyed this article. Please let me know your experience with growing kale plants in the comment section.
