If you’re into kale at all – I mean, even slightly – I can’t recommend Beedy’s Camden highly enough. In the past we’ve grown the Russians, red and white; Lacinato/Dinosaur; Winter curly; others I can’t remember … each of them did well enough. And then we met Beedy’s.
Selected by a farmer in Maine and sold through Fedco, this variety fairly jumps out of the ground and just keeps growing apace all season, pushing out large flat-and-curly leaves that are tender and delicious. Half a dozen seedlings went into the kitchen herb garden for those last-minute additions while cooking; the rest are up in the field with the other crops. Kale can be cut into pieces, tossed in a bag and frozen without blanching for winter soups and stews – easy to do – and you will likely have plenty extra for freezing if you grow this prolific variety.
For some reason, lettuce grows really, really well here; maybe it’s the type of soil we have, or the particulars of this mini-climate, but the heads grow to an enormous size while staying crisp and tasty. If I were into monoculture, this would be a lettuce farm! This spring we’re enjoying Black Seeded Simpson, Buttercrunch, Forellenschluss, Italienischer, Really Red Deer Tongue, and some volunteers from the varieties I let go to seed last year; there are Batavian seedlings waiting for their turn in the field for midsummer eating. Taking a note from my Pilgrim days, onions are planted in amongst the lettuce seedlings right from the start – they don’t compete for the same “air space,” and the lettuce will be gone fairly quickly while the onions take much longer.
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