OmVed Kale
Brassica napus var. Pabularia
Story: This is a variety of Russo-Siberian kale. Russo-Siberian kales are typically milder than other kales and can be eaten raw. We find it to be sweet, tender, and delicious!
When to sow: February - April for autumn-winter crop and again in August-September for early spring cropping.
Requirements: Kale does best in full sun but tolerates partial shade. Soil needs to drain well and also be enriched.
Harvesting: Baby kale of this variety is ready for harvest 25 days after sowing, and full-sized leaves can typically be harvested after 50 days, one important tip is only to harvest the lower, outer leaves if you want successional harvests.
Saving Seed: Kale takes a bit of care and planning to save seed from - brassicas (in this case B. napus - Siberian Kale) can cross pollinate with other brassicas - with the help of insects. Because of this, it is best to allow only one type of kale to flower at any one time. When growing for seed saving, a large gene pool is needed. Only save seed from the biggest, healthiest looking plants (it can be tempting to harvest these for food but the strong genetics are much needed in seed saving so allow them to flower instead) compost/eat any that bolt. Allow at least 10 (preferably 20 - 30) healthy plants to flower if you plan to save seed - bear in mind, they do get big when in flower so allow plenty of space. Most B. napus flower and set seed in their second year. Allow the seed pods to form on the plant and begin to turn brown. Cut whole branches as they turn brown but before seeds start to drop and bring them inside to hang and dry fully. Processing: Once fully dry crumble the seeds from their casings and pick large pieces of chaff out, don't worry about cleaning them too thoroughly though, we have a seed cleaning machine here and can do the rest. From 10 - 20 plants, you should have TONNES of seed, so share with seed networks, family, friends and keep some back for growing, sprouting and microgreens.
Number of plants to save seeds from: 10 - 20 minimum, more is ideal
Pollination: Insect pollinated
How to send back seed: Please label all seed with variety, type, date and your contact. If you didn't get a chance to fill out our online data collection form, you can also send us a few lines about how it grew for you/flavour etc. Please aim to send back 1/3 cup of dried brassica seed or more so that we can continue to share with network members. Send to: The Seed Saving Network, Omved Gardens, 1 Townsend Yard, N6 5JF.
Please remember, if you’re an individual grower you can order up to 4 packets of seeds. If you order more than this, you will receive just four packs to begin with. This is to ensure we get plenty of data in return and to keep our stocks sustainable for years to come.*
*Community groups, seed guardians and Experienced Growers can order larger quantities, please email us at info@seedsaving.network if this is the case.
If an item is out of stock we will send a close alternative.
