holey kale

When I planted kale for the first time this year, I had great hopes of harvesting healthy veg all season long.  After all, kale is cold tolerant, and will happily keep on growing and looking good even after heavy frosts.  Except in my garden.  In early June, I made a few stir-fries with kale, but now the leaves are so full of holes, and there are so many bugs, it's just not something I want to eat.

Kale is part of the cabbage family, which includes brussels sprouts and kohlrabi.  All of which are delicious to flea beetles and cabbage worms.

If I was really serious, I would have covered the plants right after planting with floating row cover to keep the critters at bay.  That's about the only way I can get hole-less kale.

But I have figured out a new way:  this year I planted kale again in mid-September.  I started harvesting baby leaves by cutting them about a month later.  No holes at all.  I think sowing in fall is avoiding the life cycle of the bugs that love kale - and there are many!