Sea kale (Crambe maritima) loves the British weather, is easy to grow and tastes delicious. It’s also virtually impossible to buy in grocery shops – and illegal to forage in the wild in many places. This means that growing your own is the best way to enjoy it.
It’s a very attractive plant, with large, silvery leaves, which makes an elegant addition to veg plots and allotments and could easily be incorporated into an ornamental bed. You can eat the very young leaves of sea kale raw or steamed, but the forced stems are best – they taste like asparagus. The flowers have a wonderful honey fragrance and can be used to flavour meat and fish dishes.
Don’t start harvesting until the second year at the earliest. After that, your plant should crop for about 10 years. Here’s how to grow it.
You Will Need
- Sea kale thongs
- Seed trays or pots
- Multi-purpose, peat-free compost
- Bucket
Total time:
Step 1
Sea kale ‘thongs’ are root cuttings. Soak them in tepid water for an hour or two if they look very dry. Plant in compost in early spring, covering with a layer of compost 2cm deep. Keep the compost just moist and grow on the cuttings into young plants, protecting them from mice, slugs and snails.
Step 2
In May, plant out the young plants, 60cm apart, in well-drained, weed-free soil, ideally in a sunny spot. Firm the soil well. Protect the young plants from hungry slugs and snails.
Step 3
Avoid harvesting for at least one full year, ideally two, keeping the plants well watered and fed. Regular weeding is essential to allow the plants to establish well.
Step 4
In late winter of the second or third year, cover some plants with black buckets. This will ‘force’ them, encouraging early shoots to grow taller, more tender and pale in colour. Keep watering the plants.
How to enjoy sea kale stems
Use the forced stems as you would asparagus. Lightly steam and serve with a little oil, salt and pepper – they make an excellent accompaniment to fish dishes. They are also lovely fried in a very light batter.
