Kale

[Ophi]

Being reasonably new to having so much space to grow food I can now spare room to grow crops for my winter kitchen.

Many years ago I tried a curly kale but sprouting broccoli took the space.  My main reason was that I didn't digest it very well.

Reading up on Kale (as I got some in the seed swap) I find that I probably tried to eat the wrong bits at the wrong time.

Some advice on when to crop and what parts of the plants to pick would be very much appreciated.

[goodlife]

You can grow kale all year round..but I suppose lot of people do grow it for winter/spring use maily as there is so many other bassicas available that are bit more..hmm, not sure what word to use, well..more liked than kale...
You can sow kale 'thickly' and use 'baby' leaves as tender salad greens..some kale varieties are added into commercial salad mixtures and its quite possible you've eaten them without knowing it.
Or..you can grow then thinly into individual robust plants..those I sow late spring/early summer..and sometimes later too ..to be cropped later on the year or during winter.
I usually start cropping from leaves lower down so I don't disturb growing point..I cut out the stalk and mid-rib of the leaf and use the 'soft' part...thats when they are mature leaves as the the middle 'vein' don't cook soft without 'killing' the rest of the edible bits.
In spring plants start to make loads of new lush growth before they flower..those leaves I use whole and I tend to pick the quite small..just trimming the stalk off.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I eat kale any time; I just take a few leaves whenever I need them. It's there all the year round with a bit of planning, except for times like this. The snow knocked my netting down, and the pigeons have hammered the plants. They'll soon pick up.

[Ophi]

Thank you.  I think I will give it another go.

[green lily]

The basic curly kale is my favourite. I find the others a bit tough. Its very useful just now and yes you do have to strip out the mid vein but it only takes a few minutes to cook if you slice the leaves first. I'm just trying to stay one bite ahead of the pigeons who did manage to strip the tops on my last sprout plant......guess it'll be the kale next if I don't cover PDQ

[Ninnyscrops.]

I eat kale any time; I just take a few leaves whenever I need them. It's there all the year round with a bit of planning, except for times like this. The snow knocked my netting down, and the pigeons have hammered the plants. They'll soon pick up.

The same here, except the winds knocked them over so put beans canes to support them. The snow wasn't a problem as not too much here. I grew Black Tuscany instead of the curly variety, netted when they were small in late summer and autumn then removed in Nov/Dec time and the pigeons didn't seemed bothered or perhaps the landing area wasn't to their liking 

Ninnys

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've had very little trouble from pigeons this year - quite a change from the last few years - but the freeze did it; they were probably starving.