I tried it one year, but it did not make it through the winter. We get pretty cold, with single digit snaps, even if most of the winter is 30’s and 40’s. I do love perennial veggies, though, so might try again as the climate warms.
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I grew Kale last year over winter. I set it as seedlings in October and kept it under cover all winter. We had two feet of snow in the ground at one point such that it bent the hoops on the row covers.
The kale survived and I got some really sweet kale in the spring, but it bolted very quickly once our two weeks of spring was over. I grew Kohlrabi too but it bolted in the spring as well.
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I think I got my seed here, but it’s UK-based.
TBH what I harvested was small, and a little bitter. I dug it up at the end of last season.
I tried another this year and I did manage to get a few small tasty heads, but not much. But I’ve left it alone since and it has spread, so I’ll leave it to spring and if it shows signs of producing again I may let it try and earn its space. But the jury is very much still out…
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Filed away for future reference
Can get it on this side of the pond. A little concerned that it is described as “Hardy down to zone 7” as I am in 6b, but might be worth a trial at least.
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Looks at pics of your garden, looks at pics of my own…
That word, I do not think it means what you think it means. 
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So, having finally dug out and bagged up all that compost…
9 bags. Waiting to go on beds that still need to be weeded out first.
ETA - estimated maybe a good 300-350 litres seeing as the bags are mostly 80 litre bags with maybe some 60 litre bags in there too, and they are around 1/2 to 2/3 full.
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Known as Cardi (srsly) in italian, cooking them is a bit of a faff, you need to destring and peel the stalks, then soak them in water with a bit of lemon juice to deactivate the bitter alkaloids, boil or steam them until soft, and they can be served like that, or done in the oven as gratin.
The Italian style gratin is cook them as above, sautee them in butter for a few minutes, put them in layers covered with beschamel sauce flavored with nutmeg, then coat the top with parmesan and bake until golden.
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Which – let’s face it – is how one can happily eat pretty much anything!
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That or fried, never count out fried.
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I’m sure some state fair somewhere has figured out how to deep fry bechamel sauce: they fry sticks of butter, after all!
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Oh, the things you have yet to see 
I was going a bit more for frying a food is one of those surefire happy eating choices (mountain oysters definitely make that case strongly)
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No, I know, but I was thinking “why not both?” and went on from there!
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Far too much faff!
Also, it was never entirely clear to me whether ‘stalks’ meant main stems or meant the leaf stalks after stripping the green leafy bits off. I always assumed the latter. (??)
(NB - that question is entirely academic - I have no intention of ever trying to eat these things.)
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Was thinking you need to try an arancino al burro, because yeah, both is definitely good idea… though we probably need to move to the food thread
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The bits that look like celery, though it does seem to be one of those plants you don’t want to try and eat if it’s been growing for too long.
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That’s the leaves, then.
I’ll take some pics of mine next time I’m there, if I remember.
Having hacked it down and composted it, it usually stays dormant till spring. It’s been so warm it has resprouted leaves, but no stems - I expect those will indeed be along in the spring.
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Supposedly, the younger they are, the easier they are to prepare. Italians like them (people from Rome especially) because they taste so much like artichokes. I quite like them, but both cardoons and artichokes are a lot of work to make worth eating.
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Never eaten cardoons, but artichokes, while a lot of work, are definitely worth it.
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Here it is - the suspected cardoon.
I think the leaf ribs (below) are the bit that are for eating - but if they need all the faff noted by @anon77190095 they will continue to be decorative / for the bees (which love the flowers) / for the compost when they get too intrusive.
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