Collard greens
Brassica oleracea var. viridis
In a typical UK garden, sow indoors late February to early June, sow outside late March to early August, plant out late March to late August, and harvest early June to early March.
When to sow, plant and harvest
Last frost around 20 April, first frost around 31 October.
- Sow indoors
- late February to early June
- Sow outdoors
- late March to early August
- Plant out
- late March to late August
- Harvest
- early June to early March
Growing facts
- Spacing
- 45 cm apart, rows 75 cm apart
- Square foot
- 1 per square (30 cm squares)
- Sowing depth
- 1 cm
- Ready in
- 45 to 70 days from planting out
- Grows to
- 75 cm
- Hardiness
- Hardy to about -12 °C
- Sun
- Full sun
- Crops for
- About 16 weeks
Growing tip
Pick the lower leaves while young and tender, working up the stem; a touch of frost improves the flavour.
Neighbours
Grows well with
Brassicas are one crop rotation group. Try not to grow them where any of the family grew in the last two or three years. How crop rotation works
More brassicas
Where these figures come from
Every crop in VegLog was checked against published growing advice. Dates are worked out from average frost dates, so they shift with your garden. For collard greens, we used:
Grow collard greens with VegLog
Add collard greens to a bed and VegLog reminds you when to sow, plant out and pick, timed to your own town's frost dates.
