Thursday, May 16, 2013

The flowering kale saga continues

Last fall I had the most amazing flowering/ornamental kale in my garden.  I had grown the rose flowering for a couple years and love the way it looks in a pot.  At Christmas I add greens and lights and it is even more stunning.  Kale, both ornamental and edible, is an extremely cold tolerant crop.  You really have to add some of this to the garden just because it is still looking beautiful when the temps fall below freezing.
I bought additional flowering kale seed to plant more of the peacock red that was in my front garden last fall.  I only had four plants, but they were show stoppers.  I wanted more.  I picked up another more generic variety when a second choice I ordered was out of stock when my seeds came.  Then I lost track of them.  They didn't make it on my seeding list, and they weren't in my seed box.  This "change of life" has not been always kind to my brain.  I looked everywhere logical and then the illogical.  No seeds. 
I broke down and bought plants.  Millager's  Garden Center had several varieties of 3" plants in a 6 pack tray.  I bought three kinds.  Then I went to my favorite little local garden center Luxembourg Gardens and found three more varieties in the smaller 4 pack which made them really affordable.  Lots of kale for this fall.
Two days later, I am putting away some condiments in the refrigerator and a little, plastic bag falls forward.  Yep, it was the kale seeds.  Since the seeds I have are all different than the plants I bought, I put them all in trays to germinate.  They are germinating well.  If all my chickens hatch, there will be a huge flowering kale display on the dead end this fall.
Now, I don't want to put it all in the garden all summer, so my plan is to pot some of it up and hold it for the summer.  I will fill in the empty holes of fall with the pots.  I started the up-grading process tonight to reduce the water requirements on the pot bound plants I bought. It may all seem a little crazy, but it will be worth it in the end.


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