Winter crops - kale etc.

RAS

2p, I think you're referring to Welsh onions which are like a perennial spring onion. Lost mine unfortunately.

Been planting Japanese/ winter onions recently, which provide somewhat earlier large bulbs if the winter ain't too wet or freezing.

Newbie_John

My ones do ok under frost, they definitely taste better as well!

Paul_with_the_tools

Japanese salads and mustards do well for Winter salad. Leeks, Kale, Cabbabge and Cauliflower all grow well in the Winter. Evergreen herbs too. You can always grow carrots and stroe them in the ground as well, I have done it with carrots but you can also do it with other roots as well. More info on Gardeners World.

Newbie_John

I've just recently purchased 3 perennial kales:

Purple Tree Collard
Taunton Deane
Daubenton

They seem to do exactly what I need - hardy and live for about 5 years, so no need to plant them every year - saving space - as it's easier to pick leaves from the large plant rather than little ones.

Has anyone got any experience with them?

twopenny

Not of kale but I used to grow perennial broccoli.
Not only great in itself but if you did plant new each year as well it produced early on the newer plants giving a longer cropping.

Wonder if it would work with the kale?

Newbie_John

Yeah, there is a lot of youtube videos about people growing these kales and they literally look like small trees :-) 

But I'm really curious about the caterpillars resistance (if any), taste (honest), how easy they are to grow them etc. Obvs in YouTube everyone says they are the best thing they ever had   

I will update in a year time, just got small 10cm sticks from eBay, planted them into pots in conservatory and will move them outdoor in about 2-3 months.

ArbitraryRandom

If you want to check you like it before then, asda sell curly kale for about 75p a bag (they also do a mix of baby leaves of spinach, kale and beetroot for about the same). 

Depending on your specific variety, it may be slightly more or less bitter than the supermarket variety - but it's nice cooked crispy in the air fryer or fried in a pan with butter and a bit of pepper.