Harvesting kale from the late-season garden

Kale cultivars
Varieties are classified by leaf form and texture. Scotch types, best cooked, have thick, tightly curled, deeply wrinkled leaves, while those of Siberian types are thinner—almost flat—with finely divided edges. While all share a similar flavour, the blue-green colour of some cultivars is a sign of their greater cold tolerance.

Scotch kale

• ‘Winterbor’
  One metre tall, very hardy, blue-green kale with thick, crinkled leaves; quite ornamental. 
• ‘Redbor’
  Same height as ‘Winterbor’; dark red-purple colour intensifies with cold. Highly decorative foliage for anywhere in the garden. 
• ‘Semi Dwarf Westlandse’
  The standard kale in Europe, with finely curled green leaves on 45-centimetre-tall plants.

Siberian kale

• ‘Red Russian’
  Red-ribbed, deeply lobed, grey-green leaves in a decorative 30- to 60-centimetre-tall rosette.
• ‘Blue Curled Vates’
  Same height as ‘Red Russian’; blue-green leaves withstand a lot of frost.

Heirloom kale

• Lacinato
  Old-fashioned Italian variety known by several other names: Nero di Tosca, Tuscan Black, Cavolo Nero and Dinosaur kale. Elongated, dark green, slightly puckered leaves grow upward like a plume of feathers. This decorative, 35- to 45-centimetre-tall variety withstands both heat and cold and is ideal for soup.

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