thinking of sowing kale any input welcome

valtra2

hi i am thinking of sowing 3 or 4 acers of kale in feild of spring barely which should be cut by 15 of aug and will be sowing same day, what is best variety and how much fert and what tye do ya recommend, first time sowing this but will be doing more next year if it gets on well

dar31

is it not gone to late for kale?
what is the kale intended to feed and when will it be grazed.
put ours in the first week in june, just after the last drop of rain before the dry time, got hit bad by the drought was thinking of redoing 1 acre with rape hybrid, was advised it is to late for kale or rape/kale hybrid and rape is the only option at the moment and it would have to be grazed off some time in Nov.
this is 3rd year with kale, find Maris kestrel best, good yield

Sam Kade

It's too late for kale sow rape instead. It will be too late for rape after Aug 20th, you can sow stubble turnips up to middle of Sept but you will have a light crop.

blue5000

gone too late I'd say.
http://www.cotswoldseeds.com/root_crops.html
Have a look at this site, costs about 50 STerling to bring in 20-30kg of seed. Rape would work or possibly turnips. Need dry land to graze it off in winter though.

valtra2

ok looks like its rape then what is best mix and what about fert, have good dry land and am planning on feeding wenlings on it, they will be housed and only let out to strip garze