Dark Kale

Last Spring I tried starting some of my kale lines that I'd been working towards combining glossy foliage and purple pigment. Between damping off and a thrips infestation, I lost everything that sprouted. I didn't throw out the pots though and just let them dry out and wait a while. Later in the summer, water leaked down into the pot from something I'd set on top and a new wave of germinations started. This was the biggest of those seedlings. I planted it in the ground last Fall and caged it to protect from the rabbit population boom. It got a lot of the purple-ness but is not a glossy. There are a few glossy siblings still under lights in the basement and also two of the seedlings look like they might be from pollen of the Tuscan kale I'd also been growing. 

 

Here's a little closer picture