Hot Weather Green

[digitS']

I rather seriously messed up with my exploration of summertime greens. The poor germination of chard hasn't quite been my fault, unless you count not considering @catjac1975 's idea of soaking the seeds. In May?

Yeah, I sowed other seed for summer greens about the first of May and didn't think about emptying the packet. Amaranth looked like a good possibility but I have tried 3 different varieties over the last 3 years. Red Leaf from Kitazawa:


It's behaving itself the way I'd hoped. Sowing for summer should have been about the first of July but all the seeds were gone 2 months prior.

Oh, those veggies grew and were fine - good flavor and somewhat larger than the other 2 grown previously. Those were so small that they were salad ingredients, and not much more. This variety may grow larger at some point and that is what I am hoping. It isn't bolting to seed, at least.

The relatively small Scotch kale (and other kales) fit into this summer greens scheme. Yes, I have grown kale waist-high but realized that summer is the season when I want to harvest from the garden. So, the leaves are cut at regular intervals and it doesn't have the opportunity to grow unmolested for 6 months so that I can dig huge plants out of the winter snow.

A green that stays with me until about now is Choy Sum. I bought the seed many years ago from an Asian store and a seed company no longer in business. Got lucky there but have to save seed. Once again, varieties of choy sum are available but they are tiny plants. Not "micro-greens" although they would be suitable. Still, these others take many to provide a serving and their season is brief. The variety I have grown is larger, stays longer and is plenty tender and tasty. Johnny's has a new choy sum variety that may be similar.

I'll see how this Red Leaf Amaranth does since it seems to have made a commitment to survive summer.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

I rather seriously messed up with my exploration of summertime greens. The poor germination of chard hasn't quite been my fault, unless you count not considering @catjac1975 's idea of soaking the seeds. In May?

Yeah, I sowed other seed for summer greens about the first of May and didn't think about emptying the packet. Amaranth looked like a good possibility but I have tried 3 different varieties over the last 3 years. Red Leaf from Kitazawa:

View attachment 27706
It's behaving itself the way I'd hoped. Sowing for summer should have been about the first of July but all the seeds were gone 2 months prior.

Oh, those veggies grew and were fine - good flavor and somewhat larger than the other 2 grown previously. Those were so small that they were salad ingredients, and not much more. This variety may grow larger at some point and that is what I am hoping. It isn't bolting to seed, at least.

The relatively small Scotch kale (and other kales) fit into this summer greens scheme. Yes, I have grown kale waist-high but realized that summer is the season when I want to harvest from the garden. So, the leaves are cut at regular intervals and it doesn't have the opportunity to grow unmolested for 6 months so that I can dig huge plants out of the winter snow.

A green that stays with me until about now is Choy Sum. I bought the seed many years ago from an Asian store and a seed company no longer in business. Got lucky there but have to save seed. Once again, varieties of choy sum are available but they are tiny plants. Not "micro-greens" although they would be suitable. Still, these others take many to provide a serving and their season is brief. The variety I have grown is larger, stays longer and is plenty tender and tasty. Johnny's has a new choy sum variety that may be similar.

I'll see how this Red Leaf Amaranth does since it seems to have made a commitment to survive summer.

Steve

ever try purselane?

 

[Pulsegleaner]

For extreme cases, there is Malabar Spinach (Basella rubra). That's heat tolerant enough to grow in the tropics so it should do fine in any summer weather here.

 

[digitS']

@flowerbug , I have seen purslane described as "acrid." It seems nearly so to me. I can nibble on it with some enjoyment but that's about it.

I've grown Malabar spinach, @Pulsegleaner . It required leaving the plastic film on the hoop house until July for it to make any growth but it did well through the summer ... by my estimation . Didn't care too much for it but that might just be because I'd never eaten it before.

Steve
harvested a late Dutch cabbage, today

 

[Zeedman]

Correct me if I'm wrong, @digitS' ... but do you need a green that tolerates warm days, and cool nights? Have you ever tried New Zealand spinach? While it is often categorized as a "hot weather" green, it also has a great deal of cold tolerance. The last time I grew it, there were even a few volunteers the following year.

 

[flowerbug]

@flowerbug , I have seen purslane described as "acrid." It seems nearly so to me. I can nibble on it with some enjoyment but that's about it.
...
harvested a late Dutch cabbage, today

try it at different times of the day. i think it is morning when it is supposed to be less bitter. i don't mind it any time, but i like some bitter things anyways.

*cheers* for the cabbage... i heart cabbages of almost any kind...

 

[digitS']

... warm days, and cool nights? .

Ssshhh ... Zeedman! Can you imagine how jealous people would be to know that the thermometer goes from 99º to a morning low of 58º? Summer afternoons in the 90's but a 35 to 40 degree drop in temperatures in the hours of darkness. Well, there was 14% humidity and I'm right at 2,000 feet above sea level ... that's why!

... Have you ever tried New Zealand spinach? ... a few volunteers the following year.

Dad tried New Zealand spinach ... Scared Me!

Volunteers? They blanketed his garden the next year! A weed of his own making ...

@Gardening with Rabbits grows collards and I did too, last year. DW obviously liked it. I can almost agree with @seedcorn about Scotch kale but I have literally been eating it all my life. Mom was just that way ... and, except for a few years when I was avoiding kale, I continued. It was important to me to learn to harvest it in the summer. I guess I hadn't really thought about where Mom's health food store was getting the stuff. Fell for that thinking about kale being a cold weather green when I began to grow it. Sure, it grows best in cool weather and it's hardy. However, it's a biennial and so not bolting to seed during summer heat. It even does some growing.

@flowerbug , I really encourage you to try Portuguese kale if you like cabbage. I can't say that it is a whole lot different but it's different. And for those who don't really like cabbage, Portuguese kale is worth a try.

It would probably be worthwhile for me to try this amaranth:
https://www.rareseeds.com/green-calaloo-amaranth/ For some reason, I have resisted thinking of the Wild West in Cajun and Jamaican terms.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

...
@flowerbug , I really encourage you to try Portuguese kale if you like cabbage. I can't say that it is a whole lot different but it's different. And for those who don't really like cabbage, Portuguese kale is worth a try.
Steve

i would have to sneak the seeds in under a different wrapper. anything with the word kale in it is verboten due to bad past experience. if it is anything like kale it won't fly here for the Momma Unit and, well, i'm not a big fan of kale either. it was just too much like eating tasteless green leather...

 

[flowerbug]

Ssshhh ... Zeedman! Can you imagine how jealous people would be to know that the thermometer goes from 99º to a morning low of 58º? Summer afternoons in the 90's but a 35 to 40 degree drop in temperatures in the hours of darkness. Well, there was 14% humidity and I'm right at 2,000 feet above sea level ... that's why!
...

the lack of humidity and also the elevation means less air/mass to hold the heat in, plus it is probably also somewhat cloudless there a lot too (amirite?)... i've been in Colorado at night enough times to know to keep warm clothes handy... my exposures to Idaho have so far only been limited to driving across it to get back and forth to Portland and BC.

it's been cool at night here too lately, but i think the temperatures are heading up there for a while now that this cooler weather spell has passed.