As the leaves start to turn and the acorns start to drop, the summer garden is ready to be put to bed. This is a time for mulching and cover-cropping, but it’s also a great time to grow a fall/winter garden. In reality, fall garden planning starts in the summer, but our homestead wedding took most of our energy and attention during that period of time. Still, we will not be going without fresh garden produce entirely. We can thank kale for this. The wonderful, green, nutritious, and delicious superstar of the fall and winter garden.

sweet potatoes and chia are some of the last crops of the summer garden

We planted  a whole bunch about 2 weekends ago, in the empty garden spots vacated by our potatoes, and it has germinated and is off to the races. Our mild weather is helping it to establish itself before it truly gets cold, but even then, kale loves a frost, which just makes the leaves sweeter.

saving kale seeds was easy, and our germination was great!

We have 3 varieties in the ground, Vates (heat /cold resistant and tasty too), Lacinato (Italian heirloom from Tuscany also known as Dinosaur Kale), and our Siberian Kale seeds that we saved from last year. This should keep us well stocked with kale, and give us plenty of chances to make our famous kale soup with Neese’s sausage and homegrown potatoes!