![]() I would maybe suggest that you don’t start your purple tree collard in a spot that has had cabbages growing in it year after year. I’m not sure whether purple tree collard is susceptible to club root, but because the purple tree collard is perennial it can happily stay in the same spot for years. ![]() It is said that you should avoid growing annual brassicas (cabbage, kale, sprout, cauliflower type things) in the same spot year after year as they can develop club root. They like fertile alkaline soil so the clay soil in London is perfect. Once you have one, creating cuttings is rather easy so in a couple of years my lawn may have been replaced by a purple tree collard forest. However, because of the rarity of the plant and the wonderful provider that it has become, I think it was well priced. The cutting may have seemed rather small for the £7.95 price tag with delivery added on top of it. This means that the only way to get one would be off eBay or a specialist website like (like I did) or from someone who has one. They are not sold by the usual commercial vegetable providers. Even if they did produce seeds, they may have crossed with another local brassicas so you wouldn’t be certain of how the offspring would turn out. Because they are perennial, they don’t tend to produce seed. Because they’re tougher they hold together much better than the other kales. Alternatively (and this is my favourite way to eat them) they make fantastic kale crisps. My only gripe is that whilst being tasty, the large leaves are quite tough, so a good old stew is required. I put a standard folding garden chair in front of it today (20/03/20) for scale. ![]() ![]() I guestimated this to be around 8 feet tall. ![]()
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