# a field report......survival plant for the garden



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

well i thought i would share what happened with a test of a new garden green.i tried a new chard this spring....lucullus swiss chard.it preformed outstanding. it grew well in cool/wet spring but to my surprise it done the best in the heat of summer of thing goods i had growing .despite the pounding hot sun and lack of rain and watering it continued to live and do well.i left it to its own and it jsut kept going and living even when other plants died from the boiling hot sun.i for sure will be adding more of this seed for next years garden.hope you find this helpful.

picture of some of it growing.its a very pale green color.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

I am a huge Lucullus Chard fan.
It is the only chard I really grow.
The other chards are just too.... flimsy, I guess, and they don't taste as good.
I grow it all winter and it actually grows. It can freeze at night and be just fine by afternoon. I actually had a chard that stayed growing and in production for several years. As long as I ate the tender new leaves it was fine.

So I second your reccommendation.
Lucullus chard is fantastic stuff!
I have some in the garden now.


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## Sara in IN (Apr 2, 2003)

You folks in Zone 6 and higher can probably grow chard all winter long with low tunnels. Some years in Zone 4/5a I can get chard to overwinter in low tunnels. It's a biennial, not a perennial and will set seed the next summer.

Chickenista, how did you keep your chard from going to seed the second summer ? Just break off the flower stalk when it formed ?

Yea, heat doesn't faze chard, it'll keep going with drought, lots of rain, and doesn't mind a little frost. Not much on calories nor flavor, but it's good to bulk things out when you are cooking, or use the large leaves as a wrapper like a cabbage roll for mixed dishes. 

"Bright Lights" or rainbow chard has done well for me as well as plain "Swiss Chard". It's amazing how much a few plants can produce if left to grow over the summer, or plant in March and get grocery bags full of chard in May.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

sara...i had some of the solid red chard growing within a feet of the other chard and it didnt grow a 1/4 of what the lucullus did.in fact most of the red died out.so under my "test" conditions the lucullus was the winner.but you can bet i will be growing all of them again testing and learning and decideing what does best in my area and conditions.i am always glad to hear reports from others and their experiences with success and failures.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

You want the chard to go to seed the second year, so you can collect it for future crops.
Un fortunetly chard gets leaf miners in it here. My beets get it too. I think they are coming from the chick weed that keep coming up in our garden.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Black mustard (_brassica *****_) is one of my favorites. It comes up volunteer in mid to late spring and hangs on 'til the temps dip to 20 degrees. The plants get huge and make LOTS of seed for spiced condiment mustard, and the bees love the flowers.
The greens taste a little horse-radishy when raw, which adds great zest to a roast beef sandwich or salad. Mildly wilted in meat venison drippings......well. :sing:


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

The photo of the tyfon holland green reminds me of Komatsuna (Japanese Mustard Spinach) It is tasty and heavy producer.. You might want to try it. Not the best place to buy the seeds but shows the greens http://www.evergreenseeds.com/komjapmusspi.html

Images https://www.google.com/search?q=kom...ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=534


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

Wind in Her Hair said:


> I have had great success with this chard as well -but another plant I would highly recommend is Tyfon-Holland greens -they beat out chard and spinach here every year I plant them. If push came to shove and I had to choose between the to -Tyfon Holland gets my vote!
> 
> http://www.blueboathome.com/blogs/ben/praise_tyfon_king_greens


I jsut got some seeds for these from pinetree! they say you can feed an army in a space the size fo a desk with those lol


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

po boy said:


> The photo of the tyfon holland green reminds me of Komatsuna (Japanese Mustard Spinach) It is tasty and heavy producer.. You might want to try it. Not the best place to buy the seeds but shows the greens http://www.evergreenseeds.com/komjapmusspi.html
> 
> Images https://www.google.com/search?q=kom...ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=534


interesting...thanks for sharing...did you ever notice its shape resembles bok choy ???


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

ya'lls climate must be harsher then mine, i have dwarf kale almost as tall as I and the chard, no matter what kind does amazing all spring, summer, fall and into the winter here.

I have so much Kale...I swear I eat it morning noon and night every day, and give it away too lol.

I'm gettin' mighty tired of kale! And I only have a five foot row of the stuff lol!


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

NickieL said:


> ya'lls climate must be harsher then mine, i have dwarf kale almost as tall as I and the chard, no matter what kind does amazing all spring, summer, fall and into the winter here.
> 
> I have so much Kale...I swear I eat it morning noon and night every day, and give it away too lol.
> 
> I'm gettin' mighty tired of kale! And I only have a five foot row of the stuff lol!


when the summer sun was laying everything on its side..the lucullus kept standing and growing.the sun got so hot it killed some of my horseradish.this is on a south..southwesterly slope too.


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## derm (Aug 6, 2009)

Love the chard. Does not mind heat, does not mind cold, cabbage butterflies dont like it so it is not covered with caterpillars. I read somewhere that the stems make fantastic pickles so that is my next chard experiment.


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## derm (Aug 6, 2009)

Oh, and a medium sized leaf makes a fine "cabbage roll" leaf as well.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

we had a foot of snow this last week that has mostly melted off, I went out today and picked kale for my lunch. That will definetly be on my survival garden list.


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## mypatriotsupply (Jan 21, 2009)

Elkhound, I know where you got that seed


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## Aintlifegrand (Jun 3, 2005)

derm said:


> Love the chard. Does not mind heat, does not mind cold, cabbage butterflies dont like it so it is not covered with caterpillars. I read somewhere that the stems make fantastic pickles so that is my next chard experiment.


I pickled the stems of my chard this past year.. they were good...


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

Kale---still eating off of it like crazy, no end in sight!!








Still eating chard too, but I'm tired of it so most is going to chickens now.
















I'm likeing the Kale more then chard, so next year I may jsut stick with Kale. I'm going to see if I can get the Kale to over winter so I can get it to bloom and make seed for me next year.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

I always plant kale, because you can put it in anything and it tasted like nothing. 
I plant chard, then I just look at it. Stupid, but I don't know what to do with it. We aren't salad people.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

you can cook chard like kale, lonely. Just cut the stems away from the leaves and cook em seperate.


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## belladulcinea (Jun 21, 2006)

I love the chard, I make a quiche that is really good with ham and chard, you can make it crustless as well. Yummmo!

I have chard and kale growing even after several hard frosts. In the winter if it gets too big I feed it to the chickens for their greens.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

NickieL said:


> I jsut got some seeds for these from pinetree! they say you can feed an army in a space the size fo a desk with those lol


Do you have a link to this site? Is it Pinetree Garden Seed?


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

superseeds.com


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

Pinetree Seeds is the only 'real' seed catalog I have received so far this winter.


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

mypatriotsupply said:


> Elkhound, I know where you got that seed


MPS, would you by any chance know how to get a line on Portuguese Kale? It looks like what's in the picture below. They are my neighbour's plants and she gets the seeds from Portugal but she wont part with any of the seeds. I haven't been able to find seeds for it up here (Canada). It grows year round in our mild winters here on the coast, the ones in the picture are about 9 feet tall, picture taken in early winter. It's very sweet and tender compared to other kales.










.


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## mypatriotsupply (Jan 21, 2009)

A quick check of my suppliers and growers doesn't show the Portuguese Kale as being available - but I'll continue to do some digging and see what I can turn up.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

naturelover said:


> MPS, would you by any chance know how to get a line on Portuguese Kale? It looks like what's in the picture below. They are my neighbour's plants and she gets the seeds from Portugal but she wont part with any of the seeds. I haven't been able to find seeds for it up here (Canada). It grows year round in our mild winters here on the coast, the ones in the picture are about 9 feet tall, picture taken in early winter. It's very sweet and tender compared to other kales.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


check out page 10 in the pinetree catalouge! "Loose Head Cabbage"
6501. tronchuda Cabbage (85 days)
Also known as Portuguese kale....

Hopes this helps


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## bee (May 12, 2002)

about that pic of the portugese kale..it is pretty sure to be an "OP landrace" as the variety of leaf forms shows. Note the flat leaves and extremely frilly..even some inbetween.


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Well, this afternoon I went out with my camera again to my neighbour's house to take more pictures of her kale garden in all it's growing stages. She was in her garden so I collared her and asked her more questions. She's Portuguese and her English is not so good so she called her young grandson out who helped interpret for her. With his help interpreting her descriptions of what it is, where it comes from and how it's used, and then after a little more research on internet I finally found out what this type of kale is.

It's called *Walking Stick Kale*, aka *Jersey Kale*, _(brassica oleracea var. longata) _and it is a centuries old native of the Channel Islands. It's a favorite in Portugal, Spain, Italy, other parts of Europe and the seeds are hard to come by so they are treasured. Apparently this type of Kale is restricted in Oklahoma and Texas. (I wonder why that would be ???) The individual plants can be kept growing for several years and the stems are indeed fashioned into sturdy walking sticks. I can tell you with certainty that the leaves are sweet and tender and require very little cooking, and are especially sweeter after 1 or 2 frosts. I shall continue in my search for seeds for this kale.

Here is what she has growing in her garden right now, this is all walking stick kale, from little ones that were started several weeks ago to tall ones (now about 8 feet tall) that she started 18 months ago. As the plants grow upwards the mature leaves are harvested from the lower stem.























































.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

that would be excelent rabbit food.


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

SquashNut said:


> that would be excelent rabbit food.


Yes. She raises rabbits too, and that kale is a large part of their diet.

.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

How can it be restricted to two states? I've seen walking stick kale in catalouges.


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

NickieL said:


> How can it be restricted to two states? I've seen walking stick kale in catalouges.


I don't know but some seed sellers can't ship it to those states because of agricultural restrictions on it, I don't know what those restrictions are. Just a guess but maybe it uses up too much water (it does require lots of moisture) so perhaps it's restricted in drought stricken states???? Your guess is as good as mine. :shrug:

.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

wow, I want some!


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## Critter Keeper (Nov 1, 2007)

naturelover said:


> MPS, would you by any chance know how to get a line on Portuguese Kale? It looks like what's in the picture below. They are my neighbour's plants and she gets the seeds from Portugal but she wont part with any of the seeds. I haven't been able to find seeds for it up here (Canada). It grows year round in our mild winters here on the coast, the ones in the picture are about 9 feet tall, picture taken in early winter. It's very sweet and tender compared to other kales.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I think I found a source for those of you who would like some seeds www.tmseeds.com
I think I may order some myself. Have any of you ordered from this company?

Cindy


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Critter Keeper said:


> I think I found a source for those of you who would like some seeds www.tmseeds.com
> I think I may order some myself. Have any of you ordered from this company?
> 
> Cindy


I have never ordered from them. Thanks very much for the link. :thumb: They have a Canadian site too, and they do offer the walking stick kale along with 5 other types of kale. 

Canadian - http://www.thompsonmorgan.ca/category/Kale_Seeds

American - http://www.tmseeds.com/category/Kale_Seeds

.


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## stormwalker (Oct 27, 2004)

I've ordered from Pineseed and Thomson&Morgan. 
I've had great luck with both.


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## EDDIE BUCK (Jul 17, 2005)

naturelover said:


> Well, this afternoon I went out with my camera again to my neighbour's house to take more pictures of her kale garden in all it's growing stages. She was in her garden so I collared her and asked her more questions. She's Portuguese and her English is not so good so she called her young grandson out who helped interpret for her. With his help interpreting her descriptions of what it is, where it comes from and how it's used, and then after a little more research on internet I finally found out what this type of kale is.
> 
> It's called *Walking Stick Kale*, aka *Jersey Kale*, _(brassica oleracea var. longata) _and it is a centuries old native of the Channel Islands. It's a favorite in Portugal, Spain, Italy, other parts of Europe and the seeds are hard to come by so they are treasured. Apparently this type of Kale is restricted in Oklahoma and Texas. (I wonder why that would be ???) The individual plants can be kept growing for several years and the stems are indeed fashioned into sturdy walking sticks. I can tell you with certainty that the leaves are sweet and tender and require very little cooking, and are especially sweeter after 1 or 2 frosts. I shall continue in my search for seeds for this kale.
> 
> ...


Any of you "old timers"with the intention of making your walking stik from one of these "Walking Stick Kales",here's how to grow the crooked handle.Dang, why am I thinking bout politicians?Lol It must be the word crooked,or we ought to take our walking sticks and beat the fool out of those crooked nit whits thats supposed to be working for us,but they ain't:flame::hobbyhors lol eb

http://tomclothier.hort.net/page32.html



Theres also a "purple tree collard"a different plant all together,,thats grown mainly in California around SF Bay area.I have a few of these and trying to root more cuttings.


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## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

EDDIE BUCK said:


> Any of you "old timers"with the intention of making your walking stik from one of these "Walking Stick Kales",here's how to grow the crooked handle.
> 
> http://tomclothier.hort.net/page32.html


EB, thanks for posting that information about how to make the walking sticks with the hooks. Now I think I want to grow that kale and make some fancy walking sticks for all the old timers in the family. :grin:

I think they might make good long Shephard's Crooks too.

A multi-purpose plant.


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