Sea kale is a native plant that grows mostly along coasts. With a little skill, you can also plant and harvest the cabbage in your own garden.
Sea kale, also known as beach kale, is native to the coasts of northern and western Europe. It used to be plentiful, but now stocks have dwindled. Therefore, the wild sea kale may no longer be collected.
Sea kale grows between 30 and 75 centimeters high and up to 80 centimeters wide. The plants form clumps and can be easily recognized by their upright flower stalks.
If you also want to plant sea kale in your garden, you will find all the information you need below.
Sea kale: location and sowing
As with all plants, the same applies to sea kale: if you want it to thrive, you have to find the right location for it before planting. Growing wild, it prefers salty coastal soils, but it also adapts to garden soils. It is important that you plant it in a sunny location and that it has no direct plant neighbors. The location should also be airy and as free as possible. As for the substrate, sea kale feels most comfortable in sandy, well-drained soil. It also accepts stony, loamy soil – but only if you loosen it regularly.
Once you have found a suitable place, you can start sowing. The best time to do this is in the spring.
Obtain sea kale seeds from a garden supply store. Preferably use organic seeds.
Soak the seeds in water for a day.
Prepare a few seed trays and fill them with potting soil.
Press the seeds about an inch deep into the soil.
Place the planters in a light spot, but not in direct sunlight.
Keep the soil moist.
After about three to four weeks you can separate the plants and plant them outdoors. Keep each plant about 50 centimeters apart so that they have enough space to flourish.
Caring for sea kale properly: This is how it thrives
Overall, sea kale is a very low-maintenance plant. In the time after planting you should provide it with sufficient water. But make sure that it doesn’t get waterlogged, because it doesn’t tolerate that.
After about a year the plant has grown well. From then on, the sea kale can provide itself with water from the ground and you don’t have to water it additionally. You should only give it some water in extremely hot and dry phases.
The sea kale supplies itself almost exclusively with water, but not with nutrients. It has a relatively high nutrient requirement, which is why it is worth mixing some compost or manure into the soil every year in autumn or spring. If you want to harvest sea kale regularly, you should provide it with slow-release fertilizer.
Sea kale: How to use it properly
Don’t harvest your sea kale in the first year of planting. From the spring of the second year you can get started.
Sea kale is a so-called bleaching vegetable, so you must bleach it before harvesting it. Bleaching refines the flavor of the sea kale and makes it less bitter. To do this, put a large pot or something similar over the root base in February. Due to the deprivation of light, the plant does not form any chlorophyll and therefore does not turn green. About four weeks later you can harvest the first shoots.
You can cook them like asparagus and, for example, use them as a vegetable side dish, in salads or in lasagnes and casseroles.
After bleaching, remove the pots and let the sea kale continue to thrive. After a few weeks, you can then harvest the flower buds. You can prepare these just like broccoli.
By the way: It is best to leave a few flowering shoots. Not only the gardener’s eye is happy about this, but also the bees in your garden.
