New Kale on the Block, Kale Fizz

Posted on 23. Oct, 2011 by Tracey in Veg Plot

Back in June I sowed a variety of Kale called ‘Fizz’. I saw it in the MoreVeg online catalog advertised as a new british bred kale and the leaves looked quite unusual. The seed price was only 50p so I thought I can’t go wrong for this price, I’ll give it a try.

Kale is very useful to have in your vegetable garden for the hungry gap, I read this quite a lot from other bloggers like RealMenSow and they rave about how great it is to harvest overwinter.

Harvest of PSB and Kale

I long to have this love of Kale as my relationship with Kale is a bit on/off so far. Over the past few years, I’ve grown Redbor and Cavolo de Nero. Redbor got infested with whitefly and Nero only grew a few small leaves before dying (although they were very tasty). With this not very successful past, as you can imagine I wasn’t really expecting a lot from Kale – Fizz but I hoped it might survive to harvest period at least.

In June I hadn’t heard of Kale Fizz before but now since all the new seed catalogues have arrived, it seems to be available everywhere, which is good because its the only Kale (so far) I’ve ever grown successfully. I sowed it next to the rocket and its really taken off well, the rocket leaves tend to prop up the kale leaves quite well.

I’d thought I’d never see the day, when I was raving about Kale, so here’s goes nothing.

Why You should Grow Kale Fizz

Harvested Kale Fizz

It’s blue, grey, silvery leaves are very unusual and it stands out in the vegetable plot,
It is very quick growing,
Baby leaves can be added to stir-fries without the need of chopping them up and they only need a few minutes,
It can be kept in the ground, overwinter for the hungry gap,
It is good to grow successionally and doesn’t take up hardly any room in your plot,
It doesn’t seem to get infected with whitefly,
It looks good grown in a mass of leaves or inter-planted with rocket, chard, spinach etc.
If I can grow it, anyone can! Why not give it a try next year? Sow April to July.

Kale Fizz Seed Suppliers

UK – MoreVeg
UK – Dobies
USA – Territorial Seed

Other Winter Leafy Vegetables to Grow With Kale:

Kale Fizz and Rocket Esmee

Chard – comes in a variety of stem colours including striking yellow and vibrant red
Rocket – very strong pepperiness with the wild varieties, quick growing winter leaves
Red Pak Choi – the red variety is striking and baby leaves can be used in salads
Winter Spinach – Grow large winter hardy leaves for soups and stews.