Kale

Kale runs opposite to the rest of the garden: it gets better as the year gets worse. The crop you plant in late summer and harvest through frost is the one worth bragging about.

Frost is a flavor ingredient

Freezing weather raises the sugar content of the leaves (UMD, Utah State) — the autumn crop genuinely tastes better after a frost or two, and UMN notes you can pick and cook leaves straight from the garden even after they've frozen. Plan the main sowing about 3 months before the first fall frost.

Heat is the enemy

Sustained temperatures above about 75°F turn kale pungent and bitter (Utah State), and heat-stressed spring crops fade fast. Time spring kale to mature before summer, then come back with the fall planting.

Rotate away from the cabbage family

Kale shares clubroot and black rot with every other brassica. Don't plant it where cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, collards, mustard, turnips, or rutabagas have grown in the past four years (UMN) — rotation is the only real defense once those diseases are in the soil.

Cut and come again

Harvest outer leaves as soon as they're usable size and the plant keeps producing from the center (UMN). Older leaves turn tough but aren't lost — massaging, marinating, or cooking tenderizes them (Clemson).

It might not be done in December

Under row cover or a cold frame, harvest extends well into winter, and if the winter is mild the stems resprout in spring for the earliest greens of the year (UMD).