The frilly and delicious Ragged Jack kale

A plant that is edible, attractive, simple to grow and easy to fit in with your garden at home - yes its the Ragged Jack Kale! So why am I in this pile of weeds in the chicken house?

Brassica oleracea 'Ragged Jack' also known as Russian Red is originally from Siberia, with oak-leaf type, frilly, tender leaves with a red tinge and purple-red stems.

It's a very easy plant to grow and this chicken coup was the perfect space for it. The idea was not to waste the space while the coup was being prepared and instead grow some veg in here. The ragged jack kale seeds were sprinkled across the ground and left to do their thing.

The week came when the chickens were arriving......so it was harvest time, and there was TONS of the kale in here. I collected as much as possible that we could use and left much of the other greens and weeds for the chickens to eat when they'll be put here in their new home.

They’re sweet enough to eat raw in salads or for various other uses in stir fries, sauteed with garlic or in stews. A great green vegetable addition to your plate as they are packed with vitamin C, iron, vitamin A, calcium, magnesium.

🌱 Handy hint:

Ragged Jack is good garden friend to have - robust, tasteful, and adds an elegant frill wherever he goes.

The kale was collected in these large open boxes, gently laid on top of each other in bunches, once at home, they were laid in the large wink for a quick wash and then bundled up, into recyclable brown bags, an easy string tie and ready to go.

Having such a large harvest like this is a great way to sell to friends and neighbours and raise money for the Community Garden, if kept in a cold fridge they will happily last a few days, but keep in mind that with the thin flat leaves, they can wilt quickly. So eat and enjoy as soon as possible!

If a few plants are allowed to be left to flower, they can be a very important source of nectar and pollen for early bees, and will also self-seed readily, so you can count on another easy harvest.

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Thanks for reading, share with others who are growing vegetable from home, and would love to know your experiences, tips and stories too 🙂🌱