HOW I GROWED A CABBAGE TREE

The closest relatives of white cabbage can surprise even seasoned gardeners. Maybe shelter them all in your garden?

CABBAGE TREE - MY EXPERIENCE OF GROWING

Last year I didn’t have time (for the second time in my life) to sow late cabbage in June so that it could grow heads of cabbage before winter, and therefore was forced to go to the market for seedlings. It's unpleasant. But what to do?

ALL YOU NEED FOR THIS ARTICLE IS HERE >>>

And how I felt! There was not a large selection of seedlings on the market - only one woman was selling late-ripening cabbage. Well, we must take it. I asked for the name of the variety. The saleswoman confidently answered that the bunches displayed on the counter contained plants of different varieties. Of course, I immediately asked: "Which ones?" The woman named several, including those known to me. And then I decided that such a "assortment" is even good: there will be an opportunity to make a selection of the best samples for the future. I bought, in general, these seedlings.

I returned home and immediately got down to work. Since there was no longer any suitable place in the garden for planting late cabbage, I decided to attach seedlings to strawberry beds, where bald spots from uprooted old bushes darkened. By the way, I also planted broccoli there.

I fertilized these "late" plants several times with ash, added potato peelings under the roots, and also watered potassium humt. But at the same time she was not zealous.

As for watering, the rains did it for me (it's good that they alternated with sunny weather). Cabbage developed normally, pleased with its appearance. But I suddenly began to notice that, although the leaves on the plants are gorgeous - some of them are already indecently stretched out, for some reason, the heads of cabbage don't get tied. Maybe this is a Brussels sprout caught among the seedlings? Okay, let it be, I have never grown it, even interesting. But there are no heads of cabbage!

The husband once looked at the garden bed and laughed: we grow cabbage trees only. So we joked with him, and the cabbage kept growing, and the incomprehensible metamorphoses taking place with it amused us all summer. However, laughter is laughter, but still it would not hurt to finally figure out what is really going on. This question gradually weighed down on me. I turned to the Internet and after a long search I found information about the cabbage tree - in fact, collard greens, the ancestor of all modern types of cabbage. Moreover, it was also indicated there that this plant is considered practically extinct. But, apparently, it is not so, if it came across to me.

In total, there were five such "relics" in the garden. And they all continued to grow normally. Their foliage turned out to be the usual color - grayish-green. The leaves themselves were huge, powerful, wavy at the edges, but at the same time, despite their thickness, they were also fragile. The largest plant reached a height of 215 cm. Its trunk was about 22 cm in diameter, and the leaves grew 85 cm long and about 47 cm wide. In the photo you can see a thick iron rod next to this "cabbage", to which I tied it with a linen cord , because without a support, this tree would simply collapse. And in the background of the same image, the ripening cowpea and the tops of a three-meter raspberry are visible. The place is open, sunny, and the miracle cabbage is not inferior in scope to its neighbors. She grew up clean, no pests touched her. And who would dare to encroach on such a thing? She's too tough for anyone.

With great surprise, watching her grow, we missed the moment when the leaves on the plants became coarse. Therefore, they did not use such foliage, leaving the plants alone until the onset of cold weather. After the very first frosts, they became limp and limp in "rags". In this form, and flaunted over the snowdrifts until spring. Such a strange transformation of a seemingly ordinary cabbage seedling took place before our eyes.

LEAF CABBAGE - VIDEO

Collard greens. Secrets of growing cabbage and agricultural technology.

CABBAGE KALE SCARLETT IN ALTAI REGION - MY REVIEWS

At the end of the season, after harvesting cabbage and broccoli in the beds, in addition to cabbage trees, there was still a beautiful kale of the Scarlett variety - a real autumn decoration of the garden and another "cabbage" discovery of mine. I sowed its seeds last year, one might say, in passing in a box on the street. She did not cover with anything, because the weather was already warm. Unless she watered the ground a little, if it was completely dry.

But the feces rose. She grew inconspicuous: thin stalks, the same leaves. July came, but there was still no place for her to land on a permanent basis. This cabbage is also leafy, and its leaves are large, in a swing, and it is about a meter high. She needs space! And I was very sorry for these little ones to take their lives. All the time I was scrolling in my head different variants of landing and eureka! Here is my winter garlic growing, I will remove it when it ripens, and in its place I will plant kale.

But the place is suitable for all articles: there are no pests or diseases in the earth.

But is there enough time to ripen the cabbage, because its growing season is more than 80 days? I thought, thought and decided that it was enough, because this type of cabbage is not afraid of cold weather, it can grow not only to frost, but to real frosts. And so she did. When she removed the garlic, leveled the earth, made holes, poured humus and ash into them and planted her sufferers. Watered abundantly and covered with inverted fruit boxes so that no one accidentally broke the plant (at the same time it became protection from hail and heavy rains).

But, to be honest, I didn't really expect that anything worthwhile would come out of all this. And kale managed to show herself in all her glory! Her numerous admirers from among breeders and gardeners were right: there is something to see! Scarlett just shimmered with a rich palette of violet-green shades - words cannot describe it! Moreover, she grew curly-haired. I wanted to admire and touch her endlessly. You can't even remember about the salads on the table - not a garden, but a flower garden. Much has already been written about how useful kale is. I marinated it with carrots and onions, and it became tender, tasty.

With age, we are increasingly thinking about how to slow down the aging process and keep the body in good shape. So, kale is just the topic. Decorate your garden with this miracle of nature - and you will be healthy!