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Kohlrabi - help!

charlotte735charlotte735 Posts: 1
in Wildlife gardening
Does anyone know if kohlrabi grows wild anywhere in the UK? Or is it only grown in allotments or gardens?

Posts

  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Hello Charlotte, I think I am right in saying that Kohlrabi is a cultivated form of cabbage, selected and cross-bred for agricultural/home growing, so I don’t think you will find them growing wild anywhere, unless some have managed to self-seed somewhere and turned feral, so to speak. Intriguing question though!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    From the website below:

    "Kohlrabi apparently developed from the marrow cabbage, a wild form of cabbage which frequently grows on the English channel coast, in European coastal regions and on the Spanish penninsula. The marrow cabbage is a non-heading plant with a thick succulent stem."


    So technically it is a form of a wild plant that grows in the UK. The plant we know now though is probably selectively bred over a couple of hundred years to increase the size of the edible stem part though.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Having looked it up and if Wiki is to be believed, technically, it is a cultivated form of the original wild cabbage (Brassica Oleracea), as is cabbage, sprouts, broccoli, kale, cauliflower etc. So it didn’t exist in the wild and you still won’t find Kohlrabi (German in origin, meaning cabbage turnip) as we know it growing naturally in the UK or anywhere else, any more than you would find wild sprouts... just brassica oleracea, their common antecedent. I guess all cultivated/bred plants have their wild parents somewhere in the dim and distant past. Fascinating...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica_oleracea

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlrabi


    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    And it makes a good remoulade, although given the choice I would use celeriac!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Hi Rik, hmm, not exactly straightforward, needs a rich soil, a long growing season, doesn’t like it too hot and required lots and lots of water, constantly. Monty grows it successfully but I never have, so I buy celeriac when I need it. Kohlrabi is a breeze to grow in comparison!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Rik56 said:
    Interesting - we grow it in our raised beds and up to now get a good consistent crop each year. My wife makes kohlrabi and potatoe mash - tasty.
    I like it raw. My wife makes a salad with it that we call kohlslaw.

    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Corrupting things again @wild edges?  "Kool sla" is Dutch for cabbage salad and became cole slaw in English.  I like kohlrabi reshly grated or thinly sliced in my version of coleslaw which often also contains Florence fennel.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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