Kale Cottagers

Enjoy 2 crops for the price of 1 with delicious greeny-purple leaves through the winter and then tasty side shoots (kalettes) in early spring. This is an extremely hardy Heritage variety that is happy growing almost anywhere in the UK

July into modules, pots or a seed bed.  

GROW: harden off and transplant to growing position when large enough.  Space plants at 50-75cm apart to give them enough room to develop.  Keep them watered in dry weather.  Use the space around them for fast growing salad leaves.

ENJOY: lovely greeny-purple leaves through the winter.  From early spring tasty side shoots develop up the stems.  These ‘kalettes’ can be harvested and cooked in the same way as tenderstem broccoli (lightly steamed and served with a white sauce, gravy or a drizzle of lemon juice).  Early sowings will give you a summer crop.

The history behind this variety

Originated from a cross between a kale, brussels sprout and then recrossed with purple sprouting broccoli. This breeding was found of interest by Charles Darwin and mentioned in his writings of the Gardeners Chronical of 1860, and his book Animals and Plants under Domestication in 1868.