Most Productive Collard Variety for Multiple Harvests
Collard Varieties in the Garden
Although collards have been a staple in the South throughout several years, collards have become increasingly popular around the world. In the past, Travis has tried growing several different collard varieties such as the Top Bunch, Champion, and Vates. However, the most productive collard variety and his favorite is the Tiger Collard. The tiger collard is a hybrid variety that produces upright stalks that yield quick and early in the garden. Collards are champions of the frost meaning they can withstand some of the coldest weather environments. Another advantage of growing collards is they are bolt-resistant in the heat so they can be grown throughout many growing seasons leaving a productive continuous harvest in the vegetable garden. Whether you are direct seeding with our garden seeder or transplanting with the seed starting tray, Tiger Collards are the most productive crop to grow in the vegetable garden.
Growing Collards for Multiple Harvests
On this week's episode, Travis talks all about the most productive collard variety that we grow in the vegetable garden. Due to the continuous amount of harvest you can receive over the long growing season, it makes collards the most productive out of a lot of the other crops. With collards being extremely frost tolerant and resistant to bolting they work great for planting in the fall and growing throughout the entire winter and on into some of the warmer months. However, if you prefer to get a one time harvest on collards you can do so by cutting off the base of the plant. Travis prefers to get a continuous harvest off of them and will harvest them similar to his Lacinato kale by plucking the bottom leaves off the stalk and leave a few leaves at the top. When growing the most productive collard variety, Tiger Collard, we start by growing them in our seed starting trays. We recommend starting them in the seed starting trays because they will germinate quicker and produce a higher quality transplant for the garden. In the vegetable garden, Travis planted a single row of Tiger collards in the fall that has been harvested around 5 or 6 times already. For the spring growing season, he wants to plant a double row of Tiger collards so he will have a continuous harvest for the warmer months. To start planting the collards he begins with the Double Wheel Hoe to create a furrow for the drip tape irrigation to be buried in the middle of the plants. Then, with the double wheel hoe and the Drip Tape Layer Attachment, he laid the tape in the furrow. Next, he wanted the transplants to be planted in a double row so each plant should be planted on each side of the drip tape in the middle. When planting the transplants on the first row he recommends planting the transplants alongside the drip tape about a foot apart. Then for the second row of the double row, he staggers the plants in between the plants on the first part of the double row. After a few weeks and the transplants are settled in the garden, Travis begins applying fertilizer through the drip irrigation and side dressing with some Chilean Nitrate. The Chilean Nitrate fertilizer is an organic nitrate-nitrogen source that contains many essential nutrients that vegetables need throughout the plant growth stages in the garden. Overall, if you want to maximize the garden space and get an increasing continuous harvest throughout many months try growing the most productive collard variety such as the Tiger Collard in the upcoming growing season.