Curly
Blue Curled Scotch Kale transforms your garden into a nutritional powerhouse with its dramatically crinkled, dark green leaves that pack more health benefits than almost any vegetable. This heirloom variety produces an abundance of large, tightly curled leaves that become sweeter and more tender after exposure to frost, making it ideal for both spring and fall harvests. Ready to pick in 30 to 75 days depending on your preferred leaf size, it thrives in containers and small spaces with just 12 inches between plants.
Full Sun
Moderate
2-10
?in H x ?in W
Perennial
High
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What sets Blue Curled Scotch Kale apart is its remarkable nutritional density combined with exceptional cold tolerance that actually improves its flavor. The deeply crinkled leaves aren't just ornamental - they contain the highest concentration of glucosinolates among kale varieties, compounds that research links to anti-cancer properties. Each plant becomes a cut-and-come-again producer, continuously generating sweet, nutty-flavored leaves for months when harvested properly. The dramatic texture makes it as beautiful as it is nutritious, earning its place both in the vegetable patch and as an edible landscape plant.
Blue Curled Scotch Kale excels in fresh applications where its sweet, nutty flavor and substantial texture shine. The young leaves add crunch and nutrition to salads and smoothies, while mature leaves become perfectly crispy when transformed into kale chips. Its high vitamin and antioxidant content makes it particularly prized for juicing, and the sturdy leaves hold up beautifully in soups and sautés. The variety also grows excellent microgreens, providing concentrated nutrition in just days rather than weeks.
Sow seeds directly into prepared garden beds 2-4 weeks before your last spring frost or in late summer for fall crops. In zones with mild winters, fall-planted kale can be harvested throughout winter.
Begin harvesting outer leaves when they reach usable size, typically 30-55 days after sowing, while leaving the central crown intact to continue producing new growth. The plant functions as a cut-and-come-again crop, providing fresh leaves for several months when harvested properly. Leaves harvested after frost exposure will have the sweetest, most tender flavor as cold weather converts starches into sugars.
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