Since I knew that kale is a healthy food, but I have never seen it in the vegetable market, I began to grow it on the balcony. Kale is a strange vegetable for many people, but as a favorite healthy vegetable for people who care about health, kale is not only rich in various minerals, phytochemicals and vitamins, vitamin A, vitamin K and vitamin C. Because it is a cruciferous plant, it is rich in antioxidants and other nutrients beneficial to the human body, but also rich in fiber, which helps to keep a good figure. Not only that, eat raw, stir-fry and even bake kale slices as snacks!
Purple kale is also a good choice. Purple leaves are rich in antioxidants, just like purple food. Eating more purple food helps to stay young.
Planting point:
The planting time of kale should avoid heat, high temperature and frost. Mature seedlings can resist freezing, but seedlings can't. Choose cool spring and autumn planting. If it is hot in summer, it is best to plant it after it turns cool in autumn. The colder the weather, the sweeter the leaves of the planted kale will be. The hotter the temperature, the bitter and hard the taste.
Lighting requirements:
Kale needs at least 6 hours of light. In cold weather, the more light, the better. Kale will grow thicker. The weather is 26 degrees warmer than the past day, and there is a big sun at noon. It is recommended to move to some shady places. Cover the roots with mulch to cool the soil.
Soil requirements:
Fertile soil with PH value of 6-7 and good drainage. Soil rich in nitrogen fertilizer helps kale leaves to thrive.
Cultivation and planting mode:
Cabbage seeds can germinate in 2-3 days by putting them into the compost soil of the seedling tray and keeping the soil moist. When the root system is full and more than three leaves grow, transplanting can be carried out. Plants with large growth can basically harvest kale leaves as long as they are watered, just like green plants.
In the second year of planting, kale will also blossom and seed, and the seeds can be kept for sustainable vegetable planting. (Whether the seeds can be kept is determined by the variety, so you need to pay attention when buying. )
Watering:
Ensure that the soil is moist at the seedling stage, and water it in the early morning after transplanting, so that the soil will not be too moist and get sick at night. The root system of kale is shallow, so we must pay attention to keep the soil moist and don't over-water it. Too wet roots for a long time will increase the chance of getting root rot.
Fertilization:
Fertilize weekly during the growing period, add seaweed fertilizer, aged compost and eggshell powder. Make corresponding adjustments according to the growth of plants. If there is enough base fertilizer in the early stage of planting, it is basically unnecessary to add it. If kale is a biennial plant, it can be topdressing once in spring.
Trim:
Pruning is also a harvesting method for kale. The leaves are harvested from the bottom and eaten, leaving at least 5-6 leaves to continue to grow. Balcony planting may be because the light is not as big as the balcony and the time is too long, but this does not affect the sustainable harvest of vegetables.
Plant Companion: Kale likes to be planted with beetroot, celery, onion, herbs and potatoes, and avoids being planted with beans, strawberries or tomato seedlings.
ONELiving lives out of the ecological balcony garden-a sustainable life with love is a life worth living!