Know Your Collards, Lesson 1: Choose the Greens You Actually Want to Eat

These are Variegated Collards from our catalog. The cream-and-green leaves show just how different one collard variety can look from another.

KNOW YOUR COLLARDS • LESSON 1 OF 7

Cousin, before we fill a cart, what are we cooking? A big pot of greens, a handful for a quick skillet, or young leaves to mix into a salad? That answer helps us choose what to grow and how to harvest it.

You do not need five kinds of collards to become a gardener. Start with a reason for the one you choose.

Here is where I would start

• For broad leaves for the cooking pot: compare Georgia Southern and Morris Heading. Give either a full-size growing space. A heading name does not mean you have to wait for a tight cabbage before picking leaves.
• For a traditional blue-green collard: look at Vates. Give it room to grow; the size of the seed packet tells you nothing about the space those leaves will take up.
• For a garden with a seed-saving story: meet our Variegated Collards. We grew and harvested our own seed crop, tested how well the seeds sprout, and assigned a lot number so we can track that batch. The green-and-cream leaf patterns vary. These are edible greens with something beautiful going on, too.
• For another classic green collard: meet Champion. It is a Vates-type collard known for slow bolting—taking longer to send up a flower stalk under suitable growing conditions. It still needs a planting season that fits your area.

Match the greens to your garden

No variety name can promise a harvest in every climate or make up for too little light. Check planting dates before buying for an immediate outdoor crop. And a few young leaves from one plant will not fill a family-size pot.

Make your choice

Pick the collard you want to cook, then check that you have room for it. If two varieties interest you and you have room, label them and compare them in the kitchen. Keep notes on what you actually like.

You have chosen a purpose for your greens. Next, we need a planting date that belongs to your garden.

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Growing resources: Maryland Extension: growing leafy greens

— Erica Plants
Food Security Starts With a Seed.