Kale Rex in bloom (finally!)

Have you ever seen such a kale?  It's a kale/collard cross that has been
grown in San Francisco for several generations (of kale, not humans.)
The seeds for this tree were originally given to me by one Kevin Bayuk,
currently of LIFT Economy (https://www.lifteconomy.com/) who called them
"perennial brassica crosses" and they live up to the name.  This tree was
planted about two-and-a-half years ago.  There are some others around the
corner but they have a bushy habit.  This one is clearly expressing some
Walking Stick kale genes or something, eh?

I'm pretty sure Park Merced will come in and remove all of this once we
leave.  The landscapers themselves are cool, but mgmt wants the place to
look like LEGO land.  It's a race against time for those seed pods to
ripen before the tree gets the ax.

Anyway, life goes on.  I've given away seeds from previous generations
and there are lots of little plants here and there.  If you look closely
at the lower left corner you can just see the edges of the leaves of
another one, it has purple stems!  Same seeds.  If I can get some from
this latest crop I'll share them.


A lot of other stuff going on in this photo.  From left to right on the
ground there is a bunch of safflower that are just there from bird seed I
tossed out.  Ground cover and mulch, yeah?  They are doing really well.

(The little bush with the red leaves is Park Merced's, I don't know what
it is but it's tough.  Photinia?)

Then there are a few Sweet Lorane fava beans, fourth generation here.
They have adapted well.  Bugs eat their leaves but they don't care, they
just outgrow all damage.

Then there's that tree (the tree-tree not the kale-tree), you can see it
has been maintained with great expertise, by a doctor.  Dr. Seuss.

At the base of the tree we have a wild pile of all kinds of things, a few
I planted but mostly wild stuff I collected from nearby.

You can see the fuzzy tufted heads of the bunny tail grass (Lagurus
ovatus), that's the second year it's grown from that spot.  Perennial,
eh?  The little purple flowers are (I'm pretty sure) Little-Robin
(Geranium purpureum).  You can see another brassica cross in there, as
well as some random wild plants with oval leaves.  There's a carrot in
there bolting, I think it's Pusa Asita ("Tropical Black") but we'll see.
Same thing as the kale: race against time to ripen the seeds before the
landscapers make it "nice" again.

Last but not least, there's a nice big dandelion, because I like
dandelions.

On the right there's a Monkey Grass (Liriope) I found in the dumpster.
It would be happier if I buried it deeper but at least it's not in the
dumpster.

The strawberries on the ground are beach strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis)
from around Lake Merced.  They send runners out aggressively and make a
thick ground cover.  They flower but rarely make berries.  If the
landscapers don't remove it completely it will eventually cover the whole
area.

Whew!  So that's what's happening in that picture.  This is about half of
all the space I have (had) at our old place, and technically I wasn't
supposed to use it at all.  I've been pent up people, is what I'm saying.


Ooo, I forgot to mention, that bit of grass in the back against the wall:
panic veldtgrass (Ehrharta erecta).  "Native to Southern Africa and
Yemen" it's a beast here.  It continuously goes to seed, the seeds are
tiny and numerous, it spreads also by runners, etc.  I thought it was
indestructible until I saw what chickens do to it.  I'll post a picture
later of a plant that grew on our concrete stair case!  It started with a
bit of schmutz and just didn't die and now it's the size of a basketball.
It's literally growing on concrete.

I've got seeds of the Ehrharta erecta and Lagurus ovatus if anyone wants them?  And some extra Sweet Lorane fava beans.

Just a wee update:  I did managed to collect a couple of ounces of seeds from this awesome kale, but they got a little moldy when I left them out to let the little bugs bail and it rained on them.  I cleaned them up and dried them out but they smell funny.  (I'm not actually a very good gardener at all at all so far.  At least plants are so chill, they don't mind at all, but I feel bad for messing up.)

The neat thing about the kale plant is that the entire "trunk" has started to put out more leaves!  They are pretty tender too!  Unfortunately we have the powdery mildew here and that seems to be attacking the leaves faster than the plant can grow them.

Simon Foreman wrote: Unfortunately we have the powdery mildew here and that seems to be attacking the leaves faster than the plant can grow them.

Have you ever tried spraying watered down milk on the leaves? I've heard it discourages powdery mildew, but I haven't tried it.

Have you ever tried spraying watered down milk on the leaves? I've heard it discourages powdery mildew, but I haven't tried it.

I haven't tried that, but I will tomorrow, thanks!  The kale plant is still there, growing leaves from it's "trunk".  Most of them have the powdery mildew.


I've heard of using diluted milk as a soil amendment (the theory is that the soil microbes eat the milk.)

Hey Simon! That's some lovely kale! We grow a lot of that stuff here (Brazil): those leaves off the main stem are "pups", you can just pop them off and put them in the ground (although whether they take or not depends a lot on the season, it won't work if it's dry), or if you're really determined put them in some water in a sunny window til they put out some roots and then plant them out.
I also find that kale has a tendency to get mildew and aphids depending on rainfall- when it's dry, both appear. I often just make up a soap solution and spray it and hope for the best. This kind of kale usually lasts about two years for me (USDA zone 9b) before it finally just falls victim to everything.

(I try the milk on my tomatoes and beans when the mildew gets out of control, but in the end just end up popping those leaves off, i don't think it makes much of a difference, but that may just be my over-the-top environment)

Hey Tereza! Thanks for the tips!  I sprayed the kale tree yesterday with 6:1 water:milk and I got a good look at it.  The "pups" are dogs now, they're sub-plants a foot or two tall!  I think I might try breaking some of them off and putting them in moist sand or water like you said.