Well, this one looks something like a palm tree, too!

It is kale. Portuguese kale, "Tronchuda Beira." I'd never eaten nor grown these plants until this year. There are only about 8 or 10 plants & they have been real easy. Obviously, the proper ingredient in Portuguese kale soup!

Steve
and, you thought i was only crazy for Asian greens . . .

The bed, available? That's the spud bed & I have now worked my way completely thru it, amending the ground behind me as I've dug the potatoes.

Steve :o)

Then we noticed that they were growing, even in January, however slowly. The small new leaves tasted wonderful, even though there weren't very many.

Then the deer discovered the row, and ate them down to nubs the size of a thumb.

Then April rolled around, and I had my guy build a raised bed were the row had been, We used a bobcat and the incredibly rich pond soil, about a foot thick. This smothering most of the row, but a few were just barely covered.

And up they came, grew to 3 feet high with the flower stalks, almost a bush, by the middle of June.

So I saved a lot of seed, pulled them out, by the wheel barrow, needing the space for squash. I broke off the roots of two plants, and they grew back.

Now about 3 feet high, no flower stalk, just covered in beautiful leaves, which we've been using to make salads all summer long.

Kale salad: take kale leaves, wash off the dirt, pull out the stem leaving the tender bits, let dry, then cut finely into shreds. Mix with shredded onion, dried tomato, and a vinaigrette dressing, let sit for a few hours at room temp. to 'marinate'. The kale turns dark green. Then eat.

The last couple of days, I've learned a few things: One is that David eats kale salad! And, David marinates the kale!! You know, that makes sense to me.

Okay, what else did I learn? I learned that these Russian and Siberian kales are Brassica napus. They are NOT Brassica oleracea like Scotch kale! So, they are not closely related to cabbage and collards (and Portuguese kale: Tronchuda Beira). In fact, they are more closely related to the rutabaga!

Having looong eaten Scotch kale and never eaten one of the Russian/Siberian kales - I am a little in the dark about them. Here, I had thought I'd taken a step beyond the pale with Tronchuda Beira . . .

Steve

Then, the new, tender leaves were harvested!

Now, the plants once again look like the picture in the 1st post . . . (Sorry, I missed a chance to get a new picture. :o(

The harvesting of the leaves must be at about 14 day intervals thru the summer. There are several plants. They make quite large leaves that are very tasty!

Steve