I was excited to see leaves start to form on the Darkibor kale that I overwintered last year, especially given the harsh winter we had here. This is my first year growing it.

However, I didn't do any maintenance on the plants (or mulch them) in the fall and much foliage died on the stem - you can see that some of the stem died as well. I've seen mixed reviews about cutting back and wasn't sure whether I should venture it (either now or in the fall).

I did find this one blog where the gardener posts some chopped off stems that show great new growth: http://therustedgarden.blogspot.ca/2012/03/kale-over-wintered-cut-back-and.html

If anyone has experience with this your advice would be appreciated. If I can't figure out what to do, there are 2 plants so I could try cutting one and leave the other.