Kale Seeds — Dazzling Blue (Organic Lacinato)

Growing Guide for Pakistan

• Sowing time: Punjab plains (Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan) late September to early November; Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar September to October; Karachi and coastal Sindh October to November; Murree, Swat and Quetta February to March.
• Method: Sow 13 mm deep direct, three or four seeds every 30–45 cm and thin to the strongest; or 6 mm deep in trays and transplant.
• Germination: Five to ten days at 18–29°C. It grows best at 16–21°C once up.
• Spacing: Plants 30–45 cm apart, rows 45–90 cm apart. These get big.
• Harvest: Baby leaf from 30 days; full leaves from 60 days, picking bottom leaves and letting the plant climb.
• Sun and water: Full sun. Deep, less frequent watering suits it better than daily sprinkling.

The most vigorous lacinato tested

It was bred in Oregon by Hank Keogh and trialled as faster-growing and more winter-hardy than any other lacinato strain. The purple deepens as nights get colder, so a January plant looks quite different from an October one.

Pick from the bottom, keep it standing

Kale is a cut-and-come-again plant on a stem. Take the lowest leaves and leave the growing tip and you will harvest from the same plant for four or five months. Frost makes it sweeter, not worse.

Open-pollinated, with honest variation

Being open-pollinated rather than a hybrid, individual plants vary a little in how deep the purple runs and in leaf shape. That is the trade for being able to save your own seed.

What is in the packet

50 seeds, packed for The Garden by Chanan Din. Bred by Johnny's Selected Seeds, USA and imported for the Pakistani season. Non-GMO. Every lot is germination-tested in Lahore before it goes on sale.

New to seed starting? Read what to sow in September in Pakistan and why your seeds are not germinating first.

Germination-tested in Lahore before it reaches you, from a seed house trading since 1932.