Julia’s Garden by Allie’s.Dad
You have decided that you do want to landscape your front yard with vegetables. You know it is permissible in your neighborhood. But do you wonder where to start?
How about starting with ornamental cabbages or ornamental kale? These are easy choices because these days ornamental cabbages are very popular as plants in the fall flower garden. Ornamental cabbages are edible; but since they are bred for the showy qualities they tend to be tougher. So if you want to eat the foliage, you will have to eat the leaves when they are very young. (see here)
But let us say you are a little more adventurous and you want to grow a truly edible form of the cabbages or kales. There are pretty kales that look like flowers but are really edible vegetables. Look at how pretty the Red Chidori Kale is. Or consider Redbor Hybrid Kale Seeds from Park Seed. Park Seed Catalog suggests that the Redbor Hybrid Kale be planted with pansies for a pretty effect. And pansies are edible, too. (see here) For more pretty kale seeds check out this website.
Late summer is the time to plant cabbage and kale seeds and fall is the time to harvest these vegetables. So you can start planting these plants immediately for a fall harvest. Plants referred to as Cruciferous in the Brassicaceae family- the cabbage family- are planted 6 to 8 weeks before a frost in your area. Kale is easy to grow from seed in full sun, so you don’t have to spend a lot of money on plants. (see here)
TheGardenLady would love to see your landscaping with pretty kale plants.