Allotments 4 All

Hello,
      has anyone out there grown collards?I've just been given a pack of seeds which says 'Vates collard' and not much else  ???
I've just googled and it sounds like an American version of Spring greens.So can I sow them now and are they tasty?
             All the best
                   Sue :)

Hey Suru

I'm always up for a dodgy old brassica - where did you buy the seeds?

I heard a bit about collards on the radio a few weeks ago. Apparently eating super-nutritious collards was all that made the African slaves in the US capable of working .... well, like slaves all day long. Having brought the seeds from Africa, they grew a collard patch outside their shanty towns.

I believe it's a close relative of kale so you'd imagine that about now would be a good time to sow..? But I'm guessing.

And given the African/Deep South connection perhaps not...

Hi ,a friend got them  over the internet in a seed bundle and did'nt know what to do with them so gave them to me :-\.Apparently they  make 'good growth in the warm weather ,but stand up well to the cold'.Just as well as we're on top of a windlashed hill in Yorkshire-Deep South it  ain't!Anyway they were free so what have we to lose ;)
                        Best wishes Suru

Found this out there on US websites:

Vates:Large, dark green leaves are slightly crumbled with mild cabbage like flavor. Plants are vigorous and frost tolerant. Great for spring or summer garden.

Collard seem to be in gardens year round, but is at its best in spring and fall during cool weather. Early spring plantings produce edible leaves right through summer if watered, fertilized, and if insects are controlled.

Some gardeners prefer to harvest the large, mature lower leaves, leaving young leaves and the growing bud to produce more leaves for later harvests. Other gardeners harvest leaves from young plants by cutting them from the plants, leaving the growing buds to produce leaves for later harvests. Collard seeds are sometimes planted in May, June, or July for summer transplants and fall harvest.

Collards are relatively heavy feeding plants and require sidedressing with a nitrogen fertilizer. The most popular old varieties, Georgia LS (long standing) and Vates, are both relatively slow to go to seed. Vates is the preferred variety for overwintering.

Major insect problems are aphids and leaf-eating worms. Larvae of the cabbage looper and imported cabbage moth are serious pests in late spring, summer, and early fall.

Don't like the sound of a cabbage looper!

Good luck

Max (at the bottom of a hill in Yorkshire)

Chances are your friend got them from ssedfest who included both Georgia and Vates collards in their 50 veg pack for £10.99 last year. I've just sown my Vates hoping for a Spring crop.

collards? sounds like a swearword to me  ;D