Your Warm Season Greens

[Gardening with Rabbits]

That Snickers!

I didn't think that we could get broccoli thru our winters @Gardening with Rabbits . Maybe, if not having sub-zero is our new normal. Trying to leave bok choy results in about 90% winter kill and 10% which is badly damaged and bolts immediately.

We don't seem to have enough time between cooling down and frosts for me to grow lettuce in the fall! It didn't make any size the two times I tried it. Without Asian greens, my starvation month would come in November!

Okay, maybe it wouldn't .

Steve

I think you are right about the broccoli. I read it can take down to 10 degrees, but I read where people said when thaw came it just turned to mush. The only way I could get lettuce to grow in the fall was covered and even then it was very slow. Talking about all this cold weather, I think I better start cutting the large leaves of kale, collards and some of the Swiss chard and get things in the freezer. I went to the store today and they did not have any escarole

 

[digitS']

This callaloo is amazing! Hey, @hoodat !

I should have put something in the picture to give you an indication of size but it isn't the size. It's the ongoing growth that is amazing. They were just teeny, tiny plants for about 6 weeks. Then, shot up about 6" almost overnight. Ninety degree temperatures must be the reason.

I knew something was happening when I posted this thread but if'n they would have stayed at about the same rate of growth, it would have been embarrassing. Another attempt by a northerner to grow something he can't. ... but, here they go!

I imagine that now I have waited too long to move them so as to allow more space. They are cheek to jowl. There are a couple late kale transplants stuck in there with them. Plenty of kale elsewhere so they don't really need to be there. Some basil can be seen behind. Both kale and basil will be smothered but we can start pulling and eating the amaranth, soon.

Steve

 

[hoodat]

Let some of it go to seed. Amaranth seed is very nutritious and easy to thresh out. Plenty of ways to use it on the web. It will get to 5 or 6 feet high if you let it mature.

 

[digitS']

... here's another green: something NEW!

http://www.rareseeds.com/verde-de-taglio-swiss-chard/

Verde De Taglio "Swiss" Chard. Thank You, @ninnymary !

There are Swiss communities with people speaking Italian, so maybe that's an okay name. It's good! I'm happy with it! Something new .

I have grown "Perpetual Spinach" before. It's been several years since the most recent season but I don't remember it quite like this. It isn't a spinach but would probably be best to think of it as a chard (Swiss or otherwise). It doesn't grow quite like Verde De Taglio, as I remember. The memory of the flavor seems different. Chard is sometimes referred to as "creamy." Of course, greens can be cooked with cream (& cheese ). That was something of my impression and I don't remember thinking that with Perpetual Spinach.

I don't like heavy chard stems. I've never eaten what little Swiss chard I've grown. Interest in it was lost during childhood. Verde De Taglio doesn't have heavy stems.

I kinda lost it in the beet bed. There are 3 types of beets this year: red, white and golden. These chard plants look like the white beets ... but, taste better. I should have thinned them but just pulled some of the largest plants, yesterday. Good Heavens, they have roots like parsnips! Well, if deep roots are supposed to pull more nutrients - this must be one nutritious veggie! Creamy, tho

Steve

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Verde De Taglio "Swiss" Chard - Thank you! I have to try this. DS ate some Swiss chard in a salad with no complaints. I picked small leaves, but still the stem is there. I think Verde De Taglio "Swiss" Chard will be wonderful to try. I also kind of lost my beets in the Swiss chard. Too close, so I pulled all the beets and pickled them.

 

[ninnymary]

Steve, I just may have to try this chard. I stopped growing Swiss chard because of the leaf minor. Is this chard susceptible to it?

The few reviews of it were outstanding.

Mary

 

[digitS']

Mary, I will be out there this morning and look for the damage those critters do.

The leaf miners were hard on my beets, early.

They just about always chew up the spinach. However, beets have time to recover.

Steve

 

[digitS']

The leaf miners damaged it also, @ninnymary .

The plants are recovered. However, that almost isn't true with the beets. They have had to deal with summer weather and they don't much like the heat. So, the leaf miners beat them up early but heat won't help with their recovery. The chard looks better.

These amaranth family of plants, each have their favorite season.

Steve

 

[hoodat]

One last word about amaranth seed. It can be popped into a sort of miniature popcorn.

 

[Smart Red]

Yum, hoodat! I've heard that before.