Kale/Cabbage Baby Leaf Mix – Raffaello
€1.95
Description
Kale/Cabbage Baby Leaf Mix – Raffaello is an amazing blend of cabbage and kale varieties which is suitable for baby leaf production and stir-fry mixes. The plants can be spaced very closely and small leaves can be harvested regularly.
Sowing:
February – March (in polytunnel or greenhouse)
April – July (outdoors)
Sow one seed per module about 1.5cm deep and plant about 4 weeks later.
Spacing:
Between rows: 30cm
Between plants in a row: 15cm
Approx. seed count: 200sds
Introduction:
Kale/Cabbage Baby Leaf Mix – Raffaello can be grown like oriental salads or they can be grown taller and used as a stir-fry mix.
Soil and site:
Any moderately fertile and moisture-retentive soil is suitable, preferably in a sheltered position.
Sowing:
Kale/Cabbage Baby Leaf Mix – Raffaello grows best in the cooler parts of the year. As the days get longer the plants quickly run to seed.
Seeds can be sown directly in early spring as soon as the soil can be worked or even in late summer or early autumn. However, the plants are quite hardy and can cope with a few degrees of frost. Because plants are quite short-lived, sow in succession of about two to three weeks.
Seeds can also be sown in modules (4 seeds per cell) and later transplanted. It is important that the seedlings never get stressed (through irregular watering or being pot bound) as this will definitely cause the plants to bolt.
Rotation:
The members of the brassica family need to be rotated with the other brassicas.
Also it is essential to keep the plot completely weed free otherwise you may get some weeds in your salad bowl. I appreciate that many weeds taste quite delicious but there is the odd horrible or even poisonous one. Keep the plot moist at all times to slow down bolting.
Harvesting:
You can either harvest individual leaves as they are needed or use the cut-and-come-again method: cut the whole plant at about 5cm height from the soil level and the leaves will re-grow within the next two to three weeks. The leaves get bitter when the plant starts to bolt.
Potential problems:
Flea beetles are the worst enemy of the oriental brassica salads but they do not affect the non brassica salads. They are tiny jumping beetles which eat hundreds of little round holes into the leaves especially in the spring. You may find that you can’t grow them in spring or early summer in your garden unless you protect them throughout their entire life with a fleece or bionet but the late summer and autumn sowings should be safer.
Kale/Cabbage Baby Leaf Mix – Raffaello
For more information have a look at my monthly newsletters on:
https://greenvegetableseeds.com/newsletters/
Have a look at the Irish Garden magazine:
