Pam Moore wrote:
On Sun, 08 Jun 2008 11:40:04 -0700, RF wrote:
The prices they quoted you seem ridiculous.
You should be able to Pam. Thompson and Morgan
(based in UK since about 1850) sells them. They
have a US base too and that's where I bought mine
recently.
In US: http://www.tmseeds.com/ and
In UK: http://www.tmseeds.co.uk/
Thompson & Morgan (UK) Ltd
Poplar Lane
Ipswich
Suffolk
United Kingdom
IP8 3BU
Customer Ca +44 (0)1473 - 688 821
Switchboard: +44 (0)1473 - 695 200
Fax: +44 (0)1473 - 680 199
Email:
Web Page: http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk
Vat no: 637 8510 20 GB
Company Registration: 358372 England
The following is the US URL for the Kale:
http://www.tmseeds.com/search.html?sterm=kale&x=8&y=6
I have one packet: Kale, Black Tuscany, Cat code 40,
Seed Origin UK, Packed in UK. Average No. seeds 250.
Price was around $3.
The other one is Italian but packed in UK. It
looks the same as the
Tuscany, costs $2.49 and, according the the packet
info, it has an
average of 2,500 seeds!!!
Have fun :-)
Before I had thought of posting here, I was
thinking of replacing 1/2
of last years soil. I'll try your suggestion. Thanks.
I've just re-read your post and see that it is the Black Tuscany or
Cavolo Nero which you are recommending.
I already have those!!!
How about the Lacinato? Is it the same thing?
Not quite, but I bet the Black Tuscany is close to
the Lacinato in the group - a subdivision of the
cabbage family. See below.
Pam in Bristol
There are a very large number of variants of this
kale. Dinosaur kale is sometimes called Lacinato
or Lacinato Blue or Toscano - the Italian name for
what we would call Tuscany. This is the one I have
been growing. The colour can vary from green
when young, to a dark green-blue.
I believe Cavalo Nero is Italian for Curly Black.
The University of New Hampshire (US) has done
extensive studies of these variants, including the
nutrients in them. The cabbage family is very
broad and it is divided into different groups with
the Dinosaur/Lacinato/Toscano the most nutritious
group of the family. After some comparisons with
other varieties of kale, they reported that
"Toscano was the best kale with far greater lutein
and carotenoid concentrations than any others."
Oddly, although they extensively research this
family, they don't use the word Dinosaur or
Lacinato. They use Toscano only.
If you are interested, visit
http://www.unh.edu/
and type kale into the search box at the top right
corner of the page. They had a PDF showing the
test result details but the
one I downloaded appears to have become corrupted.