🌿 PETER'S RED RUSSIAN KALE 🌿

Red Russian Kale
Brassica napus

Description: Beautiful, blue-green heirloom kale that is hardy, tender, mild, and sweet compared to other cultivars. Good for salads and light cooking, after the stems are removed, a quick, easy process. A variety approved by botanist friend Elsa who, at a young age, enjoyed taste-testing her way through Peter's garden patch of greens. 

Stamppot is a traditional Dutch recipe, a substantial combination of well-mashed potatoes, lots of kale, and hearty smoked sausage. When kale is served in Dutch homes, a small bowl or pitcher of vinegar is passed to dribble on the top. 

Culture:
After enhancing the plot with aged compost, plant seeds 1/4" to 1/2" deep in well-drained, light soil. After 2 weeks, thin to 8"-12" apart. Cool weather crop that can tolerate temperatures as low as 20 degrees F; actually, the flavor is enhanced by fall frost. 
In hot area regions, this can be planted in late summer for harvest in fall/winter. Side dress with aged compost every month or so, as kale is a strong grower.

Botanical Name: Brassica napus.

Native: Siberia. Brought to Canada by Russian traders around 1885. Grown on Shaw for several years.

Type: Biennial.
It takes 2 years if you'd like to save your own seed. 

These seeds are for sale
at the Gatehouse, Reefnet Bay Road,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.

🌿 GARDENING WITH BOOKS 🌿

A dear Hardy Plant Society member and celebrated gardener, speaking at a conference in Portland, OR, said: "We have to garden with books and periodicals as well as in the dirt." Remembering Faith MacKaness.

Spring flowers 
7 May 2015
Mideke hand thrown porcelain pot,
Art by Orcas Islander,
C.C. Gill.

🌿 A fragrant thank you 🌿

Species Rhododendron decorum blooming this day.
Non-native, but she grows over-my-head, 
emitting a fragrant thanks to
Anne and Sheila for the visit and kind note.
Anno three May 2015
Shaw Island, WA.

SONG SPARROW NEST

Shaw Island Song Sparrow Nest
2015 photo thanks to Joanne.