Tips For Planting Collards

Collards and other greens are some of Alabama's most popular fall garden crops.

Two questions collard growers frequently ask are; which variety should be planted and how close within the row should the collards be placed?

In recent years, seed companies introduced new hybrids, such as Blue Max and Top Bunch, that have higher yields than traditional open-pollinated varieties such as Vates and Champion. Home gardeners and commercial growers can purchase most new varieties through the mail from seed catalogs.

Hybrids cost a little more than traditional open pollinated varieties, but their production is better than the more traditional varieties.

Plant your collards 12-18 inches apart within a row.

Blue Max, a hybrid collard with bluish-green leaves, produced high yields in Auburn University's Experiment Station research plots.