Sesame Kale with mushrooms There are so many great fruits and vegetables to grow that it can be difficult to decide how to invest your time and garden space, says Ken Carman.

Most of us grow food for two reasons, nutrition and pleasure. For example, many will eat spinach because it is good for us, and yet look at how many people eat iceburg lettuce, which has little nutritive value.
I am not going to write about growing for your pleasure because that is entirely up to your own personal preferences. Instead I want to tell you about what I believe is the best crop that anyone can grow in their home garden and I will give you numerous reasons why I believe it is truly number one.
When you grow something to eat, you want something that is easy to grow, highly nutritious, provides an abundant harvest, is harvested over a long period of time, is easily stored through winter, and hopefully it tastes good too.

OK, here is what I am talking about and recommending . . . and most important why! I am talking about Kale.

Kale is very easy to grow. The seeds are very inexpensive and can be broadcast spread over an area and then transplanted into a growing area. It can be started indoors during late winter and set out well before the last frost. It is vulnerable to caterpillars, flea beetles, and slugs, but the greatest threat is the caterpillars and they can easily be controlled organically with Neem Oil or BT. Since kale is a leafy crop, it thrives with most fertilizers, especially those with high nitrogen content. Too much nitrogen hinders many crops because it causes too much leaf growth, but with Kale, that is exactly what we want. I am growing mine in aged-saw dust based-horse manure with each plant set in a small handful of garden soil. They are the biggest plants I have ever seen or grown.
Kale is very nutritious. Kale is regarded by many experts as one of the most nutritious plants grown. It has over 100% of two major vitamins. It has omega 3’s. It is a good source of fiber, has protein, minerals, and other vitamins as well as having cancer fighting properties. I am not hear to argue whether or not it is the most nutritious plant grown, just continue reading because it is the combined benefits that I feel make it the best plant to grow.

Kale produces a large harvest. You can pick your Kale over and over again, almost every day, and one of the solid benefits of growing Kale is that it lends itself to being harvested as two different crops. First of all, the small tender inner leaves can be picked and eaten raw as a delicious salad or at least combined with other greens. We eat it by itself with tomatoes, sugar pod peas, onions, peppers, or whatever we have on hand, but kale is the only leaf we eat. It is not as sweet as some of the nutrient deprived lettuces, but it is no stronger flavored than broccoli and tastes great with any dressing. Second, the large outer leaves are harvested to be cooked as greens. It only takes eight to ten plants to provide enough salad for your family every few days and twenty or more will provide you with fresh cooked greens all summer long.

Kale is harvested over a long period of time. Not only does each plant produce an amazing amount of food over the course of the season, it is also harvested over one of the longest growing periods of any vegetable. This is very important because it can be picked and eaten fresh rather than having to store it. It can be set out early in the spring before the last frost, and can still be harvested well after the first frosts of fall and often well into winter when the flavor is sweetest and at its best. Even here in Ohio where off-season temperatures go below zero, many times kale will survive the winter and start right back up producing more leaves before finally going to seed well into its second season. Although kale is regarded as a cold weather crop, just like its close cousin collards, kale thrives in hot weather too.

Kale is easy to store. Along with its incredibly long growing season, kale is very easy to blanch or cook and then freeze. It can also be canned easily just like any other cooked green, but freezing is often the simplest method when adequate electrical power is readily available. Growing kale in a cold frame is another way to help extend the growing season and in many places will provide for a year long crop.

So there you have it. Kale is one of the most nutritious plants man grows, is easy to grow, produces an abundant harvest over a long growing season . . . and can be eaten raw as a tasty salad or cooked as a delicious green. Now Collards will give you at least three times the harvest in volume and compares in nutrition to Kale, but is not much for salads. Of course, I grow both. Everything else I grow is simply for pleasure and taste.
Want a super easy recipe? Well, try cooking up a quart of your favorite greens, leave some water in them (consistency of a thick soup), then just open a jar of your favorite salsa and add some of it to your greens until they are absolutely delicious. No salt is added . . . no butter . . . no nothing . . . just cooked greens(kale) and salsa. Wow!!
For a fancier version, add pickled banana peppers, onions, garlic, sweet peppers, and diced ham . . .it is out of this world!