How To Harvest Siberian Kale Leaves

Siberian kale grows a little differently from regular kale and this can lead to confusion at harvest time. Do you pick at it over weeks and weeks or harvest it all at once let's find out.

I always pick away a few leaves at a time on my Siberian kale rather than going for the whole plant at once. This is quick-growing veg and you will have new leaves ready to harvest again in a week or two if you let the plant grow back.

How To Pick The Leaves

I like to use secateurs but you can also use scissors or just your hands but a cutting implement is advised.

You want to cut from the outside in, always removing the larger outer leaves and leaving the smaller inner leaves.

Cut right down at the base of the plant.

You can cut a lot of the leaves off at once as long as you don't remove everything. You will be surprised at how little you can leave on the plant and how quickly the leaves come back.

Siberian Kale

This variety has huge leaves with a blue-green tint to them, as you can see in my photos the leaves don't curl anywhere near as much as regular kale leaves do.

It is really rapidly growing and doesn't form a head so works really well as pick-and-come-again kale.

As you may have gathered from the name, Siberian kale is one tough plant and is probably the toughest kale when it comes to surviving winters.

This plant can be harvested all winter long and as is true for all kale plants, the first frost actually improves the flavour of the leaves.

Can be planted in spring as soon as the soil has defrosted enough for you to be able to get seeds in the ground, that's how tough it is.

Alternatively, you can grow it in autumn and then overwinter it for a much-needed source of food through winter.