Neil Sperry: Kale, cabbage come into their own in winter

This is the time that kale and cabbage meet themselves coming and going in our North Texas gardens. Ornamental kales and cabbages were planted months ago and are at their peak right now, while edible types are ready to be planted for the spring season.

Looks aren’t everything

Ornamental cabbage and kale came into the market when I was a kid. I pored over those old seed catalogs before placing my orders, and I memorized every page. These plants’ page in the Park Seed Co. catalog had this great quote: “If you ever tire of looking at them, you can always eat them!”

I always remembered that quote and carried the thought of actually consuming ornamental cabbage and kale with me for decades, chuckling at the notion. In the past decade, however, I realized it wasn’t a source of humor anymore. We people are actually eating “that stuff.”

But let’s table that culinary part of our discussion for a moment and talk about the beauty these plants bring to our gardens. These babies are flat-out gorgeous. And they’re also winter-hardy to all but the worst of cold weather. In fact, the colder it gets, the more colorful they become. But even during this relatively mild winter, they’ve been stars in our gardens.

Putting on a show

Ornamental cabbages are generally pretty similar to what you see in your vegetable garden. They have big, rounded heads, but with large, succulent leaves of blue-green, pink, magenta and white.

Ornamental kales are different. First of all, they’re really frilly. Some are in heads, but others grow more open, like a sprawling wildflower bouquet being clutched by a child’s hand, and still others are upright — almost shrublike.

An example of the latter is Redbor, a tall maroon-red kale that you see all over North Texas right now. It is listed by the National Garden Bureau as a Scotch kale. It grows 2 to 3 feet tall, which makes it an ideal anchoring plant for a large patio pot or the perfect backdrop to a bed of pansies, pinks or shorter types of kale and cabbage. And if you’re interested in its alternate role as a source of nutrition, its flavor is described as sweet.

The shorter, head-forming types of ornamental kale are the most colorful. Series names like Chidori, Kamome, Glamour and Peacock, among many others, bring us plants with all ranges of reds, pinks, near-lavenders, blue-greens and whites.

There are fewer varieties of ornamental cabbage, but they, too, are showy in the landscape. When we plant all of these in October or November, usually from 1-gallon pots, they’re essentially all blue-green, but as the winter cold unfolds, their colors turn dazzlingly brilliant.

Keep cabbage and kale plants moist should you encounter dry spells, and apply a high-nitrogen, top-quality fertilizer to them in December. As the plants start to elongate and develop oddly shaped cones out of their middles, that means they’re bolting into flower. That will happen by late February or March, and it will be your sign that it’s time to turn your attention toward summertime plantings.

And mark the calendar to plant more cabbage and kale this coming late fall and early winter. The rewards will amaze you.

Growing rabbit food

Mid-February is the time to plant edible members of the cabbage family. You can grow them from seed, but potted transplants give more uniform results.

Local independent retail garden centers and feed stores will sell the best types. The list includes cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and, of course, kale.

All of these plants need full sun and highly organic soils. Raised planting beds will ensure good drainage, and that’s critical to their success.

Set your transplants into the freshly tilled and raked garden soil on 18- to 24-inch centers in their rows, and allow three feet between rows. Because it’s a leafier, shorter vegetable, kale can be spaced eight to 12 inches apart, but still allow three feet between rows.

Keep your plants growing vigorously by applying a high-nitrogen fertilizer a week or so after planting and on monthly intervals all spring. Keep soil moist at all times.

Watch for small white butterflies that might be hovering around your garden. Those are the cabbage looper adults, and within days after the adults appear, you’re likely to see holes being eaten out of the leaves. Bacillus thuringiensis organic worm control is the only way to eliminate them. Dust the leaves with it as soon as you see the small green larvae. There is no waiting period after the treatment before you can harvest.

Harvest all of these crops before they are fully mature. In fact, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower heads should be less than two-thirds their normal mature size when you harvest them. Harvest kale leaves as you need them, again choosing leaves that are not fully mature.

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Neil Sperry: Kale, cabbage come into their own in winter."