What's in this box
Lacinato Kale, Early Wonder Beet, Italian Giant Parsley, Tetra Dill
Why this pairing works
Lacinato Kale and Early Wonder Beet are well-matched in the garden because beets and kale occupy different soil depths, with kale's shallow root system avoiding competition with the deeper-rooting beet, and beet greens can even be returned to the bed as a mineral-rich mulch around kale plants. Both Tetra Dill and Italian Giant Parsley are members of Apiaceae and serve as powerful pest management allies for kale, as field trials have found that planting dill nearly doubled the species richness and abundance of beneficial insects over a cropping season, while parsley has been shown to increase kale yield in tight plantings through attraction of parasitoids and predatory insects. Allowing parsley to go to bloom draws in hoverflies and predatory wasps, and dill similarly sends up umbel-shaped flowers during the time that pest pressure on brassicas is highest, making this four-species planting a cohesive system that layers root-zone efficiency with above-ground biological pest control.
