Kale

Meet kale, the plant that makes a Dubai winter bed look lush. Its thick, crinkled leaves stand upright in a loose rosette, blue-green or purple-red, and a single row can keep a household in greens for months.

Its character is easygoing. It tolerates a wide range of soils, takes a little shade, and asks only for sun, regular water and a look under the leaves for caterpillars. Pick the lower leaves and it just keeps growing upwards.

What it brings is the longest harvest of any winter green: leaf after leaf for weeks, with a sweet flavour that UF/IFAS puts among the best of the leafy greens. It is the crop to plant if you want results from your first season.

Kale is the forgiving member of the cabbage family. It is not on the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment's planting calendar, so its dates come from other sources: BBC Good Food Middle East gives October to March for kale in the UAE's cool season, and UF/IFAS says seed can be started from September through January or February. A Dubai gardener profiled by Gulf News grows kale among her vegetables, and the paper's winter guide names kale and spinach as cool-weather crops that suit planting at the start of winter. Gulf News also quotes a Dubai landscaping specialist who puts kale among crops that flourish at 10 to 18°C and suit planting from late November or early December.

UF/IFAS says kale is not a particular plant: it thrives in a wide range of soils in a sunny spot with regular water. Leaves can be picked individually as they become ready, about 70 to 80 days from seed or 55 days from transplants. Harvest the lower leaves, and no more than a third of the plant at a time, and the plant keeps producing through spring. Tuscan or lacinato kale, with blue-green to near-black crinkled leaves, is also called dinosaur kale; 'Winterbor' reaches about 2 feet (60 cm) and 'Redbor' has red-purple leaves. UF/IFAS recommends slow-to-bolt varieties in warm places.

Gulf News gardeners say leafy greens such as kale, spinach and lettuce flourish with a bit of shade, which makes kale a good fit for the cooler side of a raised bed. FAO rates kale (Acephala Group) as moderately sensitive to salt, an estimate rather than a measured threshold, so use clean water on a drip line. Cabbage loopers and other caterpillars chew the leaves: UF/IFAS suggests hand-picking or an occasional Bt spray. By April, Dubai's average high is 34°C and kale begins to bolt, so plan to clear the bed or shade it.