Dwarf Siberian Kale

I started some of these in pots while living in the Florida Panhandle. They grow slow but made it through the winter. I moved to TN in June and they made the day trip easy since they were still in the pots, but almost 1 year at this point. They really took off when I started using fish fertilizer. I usually had 4-5 leafs to pick each week off each plant. I used them in smoothies. The worms are horrible in TN so I had to check the leafs everyday since I don't spray. Forward to almost 2 years old this summer and the plants started shooting very high and producing flowers. I hope to get some seeds out of them. I would certainly recommend growing these. I have had the same plants for just under 2 years. Fabulous!

This was a fun variety to grow, but this variety ended up being gigantic and dwarfed all other kale varieties in our garden! Individual leaves were around 2' in length. It may be a dwarf variety elsewhere, but not in Alaska.

I tried some early baby leaves one morning while weeding, and I was hooked! I harvested baby leaves almost daily for months in the summer, and into late fall. I never let these mature, just enjoyed the tender leaves. Great for salads or wilted in hot olive oil with toasted garlic.

This kale grows wonderfully from gathered seed. It is so tender and sweet for a kale. If you grow this variety you'll never go back to any other type of kale unless you just like feeding on tough hard leaves! :)

I would say that the dominating characteristic of this kale is how unbelievably prickly it is. The first time I grabbed it, I thought I had grabbed a thistle growing too close on accident. Turns out, there were no thistles, it was just this kale. This is a great seed stock, great germination, took off way faster than my other kales, and seemed to thrive in our heatwave when the others simply stopped growing, BUT I give it three stars overall simply because nowhere in the description do they warn you about this very prickly characteristic. I've decided that this kale is just not for fresh eating, so if you get this one, make sure you get some other kales you're more familiar with for your "massaged" kale salad recipes...otherwise, ouch! :) This is a good kale, it just shouldn't be your only one. I'm experimenting with freezing it and cooking...maybe it can do well as chips, but wear gloves when handling if you have very sensitive skin.