KALE’S somewhat bizarre trendiness in recent years shouldn’t be allowed to obscure the fact that it remains one of the best crops available for an allotment or vegetable garden.

It’s highly productive, relatively trouble-free, resistant to clubroot – which ruins many other brassicas – and fully hardy from north to south.

Seeds sown in a warm June will soon overtake those sown in a cold May and can be started outside in a seedbed or under cover in small pots.

Curly kale is probably the most familiar type, with its dark green ruffled leaves, and Dwarf Green Curled perhaps the most commonly grown variety. Reaching only a couple of feet (60cm) in height it doesn’t require much, if any, staking.

Nero di Toscana or black kale – also known as Italian cabbage, black cabbage or Italian kale – is increasingly popular in this country, but maybe more with chefs than gardeners.

It has a strong, dark flavour to go with its long, dark leaves, which have a bubbled surface similar to Savoy cabbage. Both these kales are very ornamental, especially on a frosty, sunny winter’s day.

Plain-leaved types of kale such as Thousand Head are perhaps not quite as tasty or tender as the curled kales, but their traditional popularity on the allotments of northern Britain is due to their reputation for reliable hardiness even through the coldest winter.

Red-leaved kale looks dramatic but its leaves do tend to be a bit coarser than the green types when cooked.

Asparagus kale is grown for its young flower shoots in spring, more than for its leaves. The shoots are broken off like broccoli spears and cooked like asparagus.

Gardeners have recently been reintroduced to perennial kales, which crop for several years, by enthusiasts for “new-old” plants. They fell out of favour a few generations ago, probably because their leaves wilt quite quickly once picked, making them useless as a commercial vegetable.

Look for the names Daubenton kale and Taunton Deane kale. They need a lot more space than other types along with solid supports against the wind, and, unlike their cousins, are often raided by pigeons.

The perennials rarely produce seed but can be propagated indefinitely and easily from cuttings taken every four years or so, which makes it a vegetable you’ll only ever need to buy once.

Whichever kales you grow, be careful not to plant them in soil which is too rich.

Experienced allotment gardeners will often put their kale in ground from which the early potatoes have just been lifted. The spuds will have used up most of the manure or compost supplied for them, leaving behind a decent soil but not an overfed one.

Too much nitrogen produces fast, soft growth of foliage in kale, which won’t stand up so well to winter wind and frost. If your soil is acidic, liming will help with kale as with other brassicas.

Kale leaves are at their tastiest after they’ve been frosted, and are usually harvested in late winter and early spring.