Fenton Friday: Kale Yeah!

By Brandie Bland

During my internship with Washington Gardener Magazine this fall, I grew Black Spanish Radish (Raphanus sativus) and Blue Kale (Brassica oleracea). Before this, I had experience growing house plants and herbs in my kitchen window, but I had never grown anything in an edible garden.

My first day in the Fenton Street Community Garden plot was intimidating seeing all of the bright colors and bounty from the different plots, I was scared that I would mess something up. But with the guidance of Kathy Jentz, Washington Gardener’s editor, I planted my seeds. 

At the beginning of September, I planted my radish and kale seeds, watered and labeled them and crossed my fingers that there would be signs of life. 

Every Tuesday, Kathy, myself, and the other intern met in the garden doing various tasks. By mid-September, to my surprise, I could see small green sprouts above the soil in my radish and kale rows. 

After the seeds germinated, I spent a lot of time watering, weeding,and thinning the individual sections to address overcrowding. 

By October, the “shoulders'' of my radish were peeking above the soil which meant it was time to harvest them. Because I have a lot of knowledge about produce from my time working in the produce department of a local organic grocery store, I was expecting my radish to be big and round. Surprisingly, they were small- to medium-sized and weren’t spicy like the black radish I’ve tasted before. These radishes were mild and tasted like cabbage. I enjoyed them with a Greek yogurt veggie dip I learned to make from my old neighbor, who I called Yaya Sophia. 

I harvested some of my kale leaves also at the end of November and I’m excited to use them in a recipe. 

Growing edibles was not as difficult as I thought it would be and I discovered a peace I have never felt before while gardening. I’m excited to take everything I have learned and apply it to my own garden which I plan to start in the spring. 

About the Author: Brandie Bland is a senior multi-platform journalism major in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is an intern this fall with Washington Gardener.

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on the community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 11th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.