You might be wonder why leafy greens are all the craze in cool - season gardens . They may not be gorgeous like lustrous - cherry tomatoes or have show - stopping flowers like okra , but leafy cat valium are nutritional powerhouse , various in the kitchen , and stout even after a frost .
Collard greens — a No . 1 leafy green in my garden — are a crop celebrated in the South and fundamental to African - American history .
You may hear about the seeds of collard greenness being brought to the US by enslaved Africans . The truth is that collards spring up in the Mediterranean and were probably brought here by Europeans .
Enslaved people in the Southern U.S. contain these greens into their diet , as collard were often made useable to them and were similar to the wild and cultivated greens they knew in their domicile countries . ( Let culinary historianMichael Twitty educate you . )
How to Grow Collard Greens
A member ofBrassica oleracea , collard green develop best in cool - season gardens , though summertime harvest home is not unheard of , as I bring off in my garden this year . They slowed down a morsel during peak heat but never resign bring forth .
For spring and summertime garden , start your ejaculate indoors in former winter , or direct germ in early spring . For fall garden , direct cum in recent summer . Here in Central Kentucky , we seed our fall collards in early August . You desire to give your free fall collards at least two months to grow before Robert Frost hits them , if possible .
capitulation collards will overwinter in many part of the U.S. During Persephone Day — when there ’s 10 or fewer hour of light per twenty-four hours — folio growth will slow down importantly , but it ’ll pick up again after that , intend you ’ll be harvesting collards again in late wintertime and early spring .
Plant collard jet in full sunlight in deep soil . accord toTexas A&M AgriLife Extension , the roots of a collard industrial plant easy get to depth of 2 feet of more . This explains how collards can suffer drought and stick around fat for so long — they mine nutrients and moisture from that depth .
Give your flora 18 inch or more between them , and they ’ll pass around their leaves to touch the space .
If you ’re growing your collard plants for more than a few months , side - dress with fertilizer to give them a boost as time of year change .
Collards have little issue with disease , but they are a favourite of dough loopers , aphids and harlequin bugs . Keep them covered ( more on that below ) , try a scoop atomizer or useBacillus thuringiensiswhen the pests are too much .
Here ’s how to identify and manage 4 common dinero pests .
How to Extend Collards’ Life
For leaping / summer garden , collard greens are probable to decelerate their yield of greens as temps peak and teetotal spells set in . I know farmers who just leave their collard plant alone for a month or more , then arrive back to them for harvest when they start growing again .
For fall gardens , collard greens will endure frosts — and become sweeter , as the moth-eaten boil down their sugars — and can go uncovered to 20 degrees or so .
float row cover is a smart move for growing collards in any season , as it ’ll keep the wampum loopers and other worm away from the plants , as well as extend the plants ’ life into the cold months .
How to Harvest and Store Collard Greens
Harvest first thing in the first light so the parting are as crisp and fresh as possible .
Wait until the leafage grow at least as big as your hand before snapping the stem at its basis . Some collard varieties will get as big as your face — and bigger — so do n’t be in too much of a rush to harvest .
Store collards in a plastic bag or wrapped in moist report towels in your fridge . They ’ll keep for a hebdomad or more .
Blanch , chop and freeze down cat valium that you ’re not eating right away .
Try some newfangled plants in your fall garden this yr — here are a few trace .
How to Eat Collard Greens
I ca n’t pretend to be a collard expert , as I was n’t present to collard K until I begin working on a farm in the South six years ago . But I do it there are gloriously delicious ways to train collard by stew them with fatback and smoked ham hocks — and typing that made my sass water supply — and I encourage you to look for out recipe in that tradition !
I have a go at it collard K the same as I do kale , leaf mustard and chard , and sometimes I merge all of these for a sauté with onion , finished with acetum . ( I know I ’m offending Southern sensibilities here ! ) Top that with a fried egg , and call it breakfast .
With a nod to nuclear fusion cooking , I love adding thinly slice collard to miso soup . I love adding collards to most brothy soups , really , just at the oddment so they ’re misrepresent but not mushy .
The uncompromising leaves can stand in as the tortilla for your wrapping , too .
Collard greens ’ ability to give rise when the weather sour too cold for many other veggies ensure their place in my decline and saltation garden . It does n’t hurt that I have it off their large , vivacious , green leaves , and their taste is pretty honest , too .
