🌿 Sea kale

Sea kale is a British native of the shingle coast, grown as a gourmet perennial vegetable for its tender, blanched shoots in early spring, a Victorian delicacy. The blue-green waved leaves and white honey-scented flowers are also attractive.

Plants live for 10 years or more. They thrive in free-draining, even stony or sandy soil, and need very little care once established. A good choice for the vegetable border or ornamental bed.

Varieties to try

Lily White (the usual commercial form)Common sea kale (blue-green leaves)

Plant root cuttings (thongs) in March to April, 60 cm apart, with the crown at soil level, in fertile, free-draining soil in sun. Sea kale can be raised from seed sown in spring, but root cuttings give a quicker crop. Prepare the bed with compost and some grit.

Water well in the first season. Do not harvest in the first year. Sea kale makes a good ornamental plant for sandy and coastal gardens.

Top tips

• Plant in free-draining soil.
• Add grit to heavy soil.
• Plant thongs in spring.
• Don't harvest in year 1.

Mulch each spring with compost or seaweed and water in dry spells. Cut off flower stalks in summer if you want more energy to go into the roots, or allow them to flower for the bees. In autumn, cut off the dying leaves.

To blanch shoots, cover the crowns in early spring with a large pot, bucket or forcing jar, excluding all light. Slugs and cabbage white caterpillars can attack leaves. Rotate away from other brassicas.

Top tips

• Mulch every spring.
• Blanch with a pot in early spring.
• Cut leaves in autumn.
• Watch for slugs.

Watch out for

SlugsCabbage white caterpillarsFlea beetleClub root

Force the crowns from year 3: cover with a bucket in February, and cut the blanched, pale shoots when they are 15–20 cm long, in April, with a sharp knife just below the soil surface. Cut over 3–4 weeks, then remove the cover to let the plant recover.

Unblanched young leaves can be eaten raw or cooked like kale. Flower buds, harvested in May, are like purple sprouting broccoli.

Top tips

• Blanch under a bucket.
• Cut shoots 15–20 cm tall.
• Stop cutting after 4 weeks.
• Eat the flower buds.

Steam blanched shoots for 10 minutes and serve with butter, hollandaise sauce, or a squeeze of lemon, like asparagus. The flavour is delicate and nutty, with a faint cabbage tang. The flower buds are good steamed or stir-fried.

Shoots keep for a few days in the fridge, wrapped in damp paper. They are best fresh. Cooked shoots can be frozen.

Top tips

• Steam like asparagus.
• Serve with butter or hollandaise.
• Eat the flower buds.
• Use fresh.