Gardening: Easy-to-grow kale provides boost to healthy diet

If you are on a health kick this year, be sure to add kale to your diet. Kale, you say? That weird looking and tasting member of the cabbage family? Yep, one and the same.

Until just a few years ago, the only place kale was found was as a garnish to dress up a dinner plate. Kale has overcome this reputation and become one of the most versatile health foods out there.

There is a long list of health benefits from eating raw or cooked kale. A 4-ounce serving of raw kale is only about 50 calories and is a good source of vitamins A, C, E, K, B6, as well as folate, manganese, thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acidand minerals such as iron, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus. It is also a good source of fiber.

Kale can be whirled into smoothies, served raw in salads, steamed, stir-fried, boiled or cooked in soups. It is even a great snack when made into kale chips. To make them, simply cut kale leaves into pieces (Tuscan kale is a favorite), toss lightly with olive oil and sea salt and then bake in a 350-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes. You can also dust them with other spices like garlic, onion or chili powder. Experiment with your own concoctions.

You also don’t have to pay much for it because kale is very easy to grow. It needs a sunny place with a soil rich in organic matter. Being a member of the cabbage family, kale is a cool-season vegetable that is planted early in the spring when the ground can be first worked or in early August for a fall harvest. It can overwinter in the garden during a mild winter but will need to be harvested very early before it goes to flower in early April. If it does, you can stir-fry the flowers or leave them for the bees as an early source of pollen.

To get a jump on the season, kale seeds can be started indoors three to four weeks before the last frost or seeded directly into the ground in early April. In both cases, cover the seeds with 1/8-inch of soil, and keep it evenly moist if the rains are lacking. It can take a couple of weeks for seeds started indoors to germinate, while garden seedlings may take longer. When the plants are 2 inches high, thin them to 8 to 12 inches apart. The thinnings can be transplanted elsewhere in the garden or eaten. Fertilize a couple of times through the season with an organic vegetable fertilizer.

There are several popular varieties of kale available from catalogs and local garden centers. Some of my favorites are Tuscan or lacinato kale, otherwise known as dinosaur kale because of its huge, ruffled leaves. Russian red kale’s leaves are a pretty greenish purple and it is ideal for a fall planting. Blue curled Scotch is tender and crunchy with bluish-green leaves.

Pat Munts can be reached at pat@inlandnw gardening.com.