kale fruit pods

Hey guys, new to gardening here and want to follow nature's cycles into what my gardening. So I have surplus of kale growing that are flowering, and soon will grow fruits/pods. If i let these pods burst open, will the seeds germinate for the next life cycle and give more kale? I guess the question goes to other veggies with similar life cycle as well.

Hey Sid, welcome to Permies!
Conventional practice is to cut off seed heads, thereby encouraging the plant to focus on making more leaves, roots, etc.
Obviously we are not conventional here, so I'd say go for it!
I don't have experience with kale,  but  mustard greens are now native to my gardens because I let them go to seed.

Hi Sid, welcome to Permies!

By letting your garden veggies go to seed, you are definitely following nature's cycles. And you very well might have volunteer kale if you let the seed pods shatter. I usually try to collect seed as well, and save them for the next season's garden. Any volunteers later on are welcome to stay.

I've had collard and kale seed and put out volunteers all over the place the following year.  They may not breed to type if you have other brassicas flowering. The leaves from my collard volunteers still tasted fine, but some were oddly a little bit fuzzier than the parent plants.  Not sure what they crossed with in my garden.

Isn't nature wonderful? Self replicating and site specific modifying plants!
I've got kale happily self seeding around my polytunnel, and a bit outside and haven't had to buy kale seeds in years.
See also Joseph Lofthouse's thread on Landrace seeds - you'll never think about seeds the same way again.
Welcome to Permies Sid.

I do suggest that you save some of the seeds. I've moved to using a deep mulch in my garden beds, so volunteers in my garden are rare. Volunteers in the yard still happens, but they also tend to get mowed before I can move them. It's always good to have some backup.

William Bronson wrote: Hey Sid, welcome to Permies!
Conventional practice is to cut off seed heads, thereby encouraging the plant to focus on making more leaves, roots, etc.
Obviously we are not conventional here, so I'd say go for it!
I don't have experience with kale,  but  mustard greens are now native to my gardens because I let them go to seed.

Cutting off the flowers only works to a point because they're biannuals, and will eventually have their way while exhausting themselves (unless you have one of the few perennial varieties).

Sid, what I do that works very well is let the kale set seed (after I've headed out back a few times in the spring), collect half to plant on purpose, and let the rest go where it will. To maintain long term health and vigor of your kale, try to have a population of at least 20 plants. Kale are outcrossers- which means if their breeding population is too small, they'll suffer from inbreeding depression.

The Seed Savers Exchange has a lot of useful information, including this chart: https://www.communityseednetwork.org/assets/storage/csn-chart-guide.pdf

The other thing to bear in mind as the flower sprouts develop is that they make a very nice vegetable too, like sprouting broccoli.  The stems get a bit tough as the flowers open, so this may be a thought for next time now though.