How to grow kale in india

Kale growing season in India:

Kale likes dry and cold climate. In India, it can be grown during winter. Seeds are sown in October-November.

Kale is easy to plant, and grows beautifully in both raised beds and containers. At this point you may need to be patient, because spring-planted kale may stay small until slightly warmer soil temperatures trigger vigorous growth. Kale planted in late summer or early fall may sulk through spells of hot weather.

So long as you continue to harvest in this fashion, the plant will continue to produce new leaves from the top as it grows taller. But if you harvest the leaves from the top, they you will stunt the plants growth!

One of the most nutritious shade loving vegetables around, kale thrives in just a few hours of sunlight per day. Kale is also extremely cold tolerant, making it a great crop for fall harvests.

You don’t even need a backyard; kale grows great in containers, too, like this Dura Cotta Planter Bowl. Just make sure your pot has at least a 12-inch diameter and use well-draining potting mix.

Kale is a biennial that many people grow as an annual, advises Cornell University. Some varieties of kale are perennial plants that come back year after year.

Too Much or Too Little Water. Water is essential for crops, but too much or too little can cause problems. If you’re planting a vegetable garden, the general rule is to give your crops about an inch of water per week. If you live in a particularly moist climate, for example, an inch of water may be too much.

Kale seeds germinate quickly in warm soil and should sprout up within five to eight days. Cover the seeds with about 1/2 inch of soil, and do not allow the seeds to dry out before germinating. Transplant your seedlings after the danger of frost has passed. Leave about 16 inches of spacing between the plants.

Before you begin, you’ll need to make sure that your kale plant is ready to harvest. You’ll know when it’s ready when it’s about 12 inches tall and the leaves are the size of your hand or bigger. Leaves that are the size of your palm are younger and more tender whereas the bigger leaves will be older and a bit tougher.

So How Long Does a Kale Plant Live? Normally Kale is biennial, so it will only live for two years. But there are Kale variants, that can live more than two years like Tree Kale for example.

If you harvest kale correctly, the plant will continue to grow and produce leaves. If you harvest it incorrectly, the plant will stop growing. Kale produces leaves on a stem. The leaves grow from the top of the stem and the stem will continue to grow taller and to make more leaves throughout the plant’s life.

After the first harvest, you can come back for more when the leaves have grown to about the size of an adult hand. Depending on your growing zone and the time of year, you can gather new greens every one to two weeks.

Kale thrives in mild winters, but can also produce sweet, tender leaves long into a cold winter if the plants are protected with row cover or are planted in an unheated greenhouse.

Kale flowers are not poisonous. You can pick them as soon as they appear and eat them raw or cook them—both ways are delicious. The flavor of kale buds and kale flowers actually improves (and turns sweeter) if your garden was hit with a frost.

Using Kale

Kale leaves have thick fibrous stems. They stems are edible, so leave them in if you enjoy crunchy foods. Or you can take them out, if you are not used to eating lots of fiber, or if you want to make a more delicate dish. To strip out the stems, grasp a kale leaf with one hand by the stem.

Plants That Reliably Self–seed

Plenty of common edibles are excellent self-seeders – rocket, Oriental leaves such as mustard, lettuce and radishes all readily self–seed. Biennial crops such as carrots, parsnips, parsley and kale will grow leaves (and roots) in their first year.