Moxie Gardener

Mizuna greens are delicious, easy to grow, and can replace spinach in virtually any recipe.

Have you tried any of the many Asian greens that have been appearing in seed catalogs for the past few years?

My introduction to Asian greens came from mizuna greens in a mesclun mix.  Mizuna greens are a mild mustard green with deeply serrated, lance-like leaves.  The young, tender leaves are good in a salad mix (hence their inclusion in mesclun).  The mature leaves are delicious virtually any way you cook spinach.

Last year I added a purple variety of mizuna greens to my garden.  Delicious.

Johnny’s Selected Seeds, http://www.johnnyseeds.com has the best selection of Asian greens, or any greens for that matter.  Their 2009 catalog devotes twenty-four pages to greens of all types, including Asian greens, specialty greens, lettuce, salad mixes, and mesclun.  Another thing I like about Johnny’s Selected Seeds is they include pictures of the individual leaves of most of their greens for easy identification in the garden.

Some Asian greens on my “want” list for this year include:

• Hon Tsai Tai (Brassica rapa) A “flower-bud” type of Asian green.  Hon tsai tai has purple flower stems and buds and a pleasing mustard taste that’s good in salads, or lightly cooked in stir-fries or soups.  Best sown from June through October for harvest from mid-summer on.
• Green Lance (Brassica oleracea) An F1 hybid, Green Lance is another flower-bud green.  Delicious cooked like broccoli or stir-fried.  Once the main stem is cut, this plant will branch out for many more harvests.  Also called Gai Lohn and Pak Kah Nah.
• Hong Vit (Raphanus sativus) A pink-stemmed leaf radish with a mild radish flavor.  Does not produce “radishes.”  Harvest leaves at any size.  Young, small leaves are an excellent addition to salads, larger more mature leaves are good for stir-fries or soups.
• Red Komatsuna (Brassica rapa) Red Komatsuna is an F1 hybrid leaf “green.”  Its red leaves with green stems are a stunning addition to your salad bowl.  More intense red color if sown in summer for fall harvest.
• Vitamin Green (Brassica rapa [Narinosa group]) If sown thickly, this deliciously different green will produce small leaves for salads.  Mature leaves can be harvested for braising or stir-frying.  Plants are slow to bolt and tolerant to both cold and heat.  Will produce a second harvest.

I could go on and on, but I only have so much space in the garden.  Will you be trying any Asian greens in your garden this year?

Belgian endive is forced indoors.

Winter is especially hard on gardeners in the far north.  Snow covers the landscape for several months of the year and growing anything outdoors is out of the question.  Belgian endive is meant to be forced in winter.  It’s a double blessing—fresh vegetables and a chance for the gardener in the house to grow something.

Belgian endive is actually a chicory—witloof chicory to be exact.  Its Latin binomial is Cichorium intybus. Belgian endive is thought to have been discovered somewhat by accident at the Belgian Botanical Gardens.  Apparently a professor of gardening planted wild chicory in the basement of the lab and mounded the soil up upon the plants.  The result were the chicons that today we call Belgian endive.

To force-grow Belgian endive in winter you first need to grow witloof chicory during the summer.  Direct sow seeds where they are to grow in early June.  Space seeds three inches apart in rows twelve inches apart.  When seedlings are two to three inches high, thin to six inches apart.

Witloof chicory doesn’t require super rich soil.  Feed sparingly and use a low nitrogen fertilizer or the plants will put all their energy into growing leaves.  Mulch to control weeds and provide an inch of rainfall per week.

The witloof chicory will be ready to harvest 110 to 130 days after direct seeding.  The roots will perform better when forcing indoors if the chicory is left in the ground to weather several light to moderate frosts.  Just make sure to dig the roots before the ground freezes solid.

Take care not to damage the roots of witloof chicory when digging them for storage prior to forcing for Belgian endive.  Keep only roots with a stem at least an inch in diameter.  Cut the leaves off about an inch above the root.  Trim any side roots and trim the main roots so they are about eight to nine inches long.  Set aside any damaged or cut roots to use first.

Store the roots on their sides in damp peat moss in your root cellar at about 35° F.  You can also tightly pack them, root end down, in a 2-gallon pot, filling in around the roots with damp sand.   These already potted up roots are ready to force when you’re ready to force them.

About three weeks before you want to use the Belgian endive, begin the forcing process.  Plant the number of roots you plan to force in a 10-12 inch deep pot using a sterile growing medium.  Water well and cover the pot with a black plastic bag or provide darkness another way.  In any case, darkness, and exposing the roots to warmer temperatures of 50° to 65° F. will cause the roots to grow the chicons, which we call Belgian endive.

After you harvest your Belgian endive, remound the soil on the roots, water, and put back in darkness at the same temperature as above and the roots will produce another crop of chicons for you.

Fingerling potatoes--a rare find at the farmer's market.

Fingerling potatoes are smaller than regular potatoes and are shaped like fat fingers.  But they pack a whole bunch of flavor into those chubby “fingers.”  Available in purple and red, but most often yellow—like Yukon Gold potatoes—fingerling potatoes have a buttery flavor and waxy texture that make them perfect for salads and hot dishes.

Members of the Solanaceae family, fingerling potatoes’ Latin name is Solanum tuberosum.  They are native to the Andes Mountains in Peru, as are the more familiar, regular sized potatoes.

Fingerling potatoes are grown just like regular potatoes with an exception.  Don’t try to harvest them for “new potatoes,” in mid-summer—they won’t be large enough.  Wait the full 90 to 120 days potatoes take to mature, or until the vines start to die down in early fall, then harvest as full-sized (for them), mature potatoes.

Cut pieces of “seed potatoes” for fingerlings smaller than you would for regular potatoes.  Cut into pieces weighing approximately one ounce and that contain at least two “eyes.”  A pound of fingerling seed pieces will produce about 20 pounds of fingerling potatoes.  That’s more than twice the yield of regular potatoes.

Plant pieces of “seed potatoes” 4 to 6 inches deep and 18 inches apart in rows 36 inches apart.  Fingerling potatoes need loose, deep, sandy soil that has been improved with additions of compost, organic matter, and/or manure.

About 3 to 4 weeks after the sprouts emerge, hill up the soil, leaving only the top third of the sprout above the soil line.  Hill up again two to three weeks later, and keep repeating until flowers appear.  At that time, mulch soil with 4 to 6 inches of straw or other organic mulch.

Provide consistent moisture; even a brief dry period will produce smaller, misshapen tubers.  To control disease and fungus, water potatoes with a soaker hose rather than a sprinkler or other overhead method.

Fingerling potatoes are just as easy to grow as regular potatoes and they taste better and produce more.  Considering their premium prices at the supermarket and farmer’s market, they’re well worth growing in the home garden.

Butternut squash

Butternut squash has the tastiest flesh of any type of winter squash.  It lasts the longest in storage, too.  In fact, most canned pumpkin in the United States is actually butternut squash.  I use the fresh version, pre-baked of course, to make my “pumpkin” pie.

Butternut squash, classified botanically as Cucurbita moshata, are native to South America but have been spread around the world by humans.  Butternut squash are grown everywhere except the far northern areas of Europe, Asia, and North America.  The summers are too short and not hot enough for the squashes to fully mature in these areas.

Butternut squash mature in 80 to 110 days and cannot be planted until after all danger of frost is past and the ground is thoroughly warmed up.  They grow best in hot weather and will stop growing if you plant them too early and a late cold spell hits.

Butternut squash need well-drained, rich, fertile soil.  They don’t like excessive amounts of water but need regular watering throughout the growing season.

Plant butternut squash seeds in hills spaced 5 to 6 feet apart in all directions.   Plant 4 to 5 seeds per hill and thin to the strongest 2 to 3 plants.  For semi-vining or bush varieties, decrease the spacing to 3 to 4 feet apart in each direction.

Cultivate shallowly to keep weeds down until the vines become more robust.  The large leaves of butternut squash vines will control weed growth once the season is well underway.

Harvest butternut squash when the stems dry out and the squash have a deep, rich color.  Leave a two inch piece of stem on each squash to prevent disease organisms from entering the interior of the squash and causing premature decay.

Harden off butternut squash for about two weeks at temperatures above 68 degrees F.  After that, store in a dry, airy place between 45 and 60 degrees F.  Stored under these conditions, butternut squash will keep for six months or more.

Ornamental cabbages sold in a bouquet of cut flowers at the farmer's market.

Ornamental cabbages are one of the last spots of fresh color in the landscape at this time of year.  Although they are edible, ornamental cabbages are grown for their colorful leaves.  They come in colors ranging from reds, to purples, to pinks, to whites, with ruffled foliage that is much fancier than regular cabbage.

Ornamental cabbages share the same botanical name as edible cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower—Brassica oleracea. The ornamental varieties are edible too, but they are not as tasty and tender as their “edible” counterparts.

Grow ornamental cabbages the same way you grow regular, edible cabbages.  Plant in full sun in rich, fertile soil.  While ornamental cabbages can be started in individual pots and transplanted to the garden, the plants will grow better and produce healthier and larger cabbages if direct seeded in the garden where they are to grow.  Plant seeds 6 to 10 weeks before your first anticipated fall frost.

Plant seeds 6 inches apart in rows 18 to 24 inches apart.  Because the seeds need light to germinate, barely cover them with less than 1/8 inch of soil and do not firm the soil down.  When the plants are 3 inches high, thin to stand 18 to 24 inches apart.  Ornamental cabbages reach 18 to 24 inches in diameter, and 18 to 24 inches high.

Ornamental cabbages don’t develop their characteristic colors until touched by frost.  Subsequent frosts will intensify the colors.  Ornamental cabbages can withstand temperatures down to 5 degrees F., but must be gradually acclimated.  A sudden cold snap will be fatal.  If you watch the weather and cover the plant if large changes in temperature are expected, your ornamental cabbages can last well into early winter in the north, and even all winter in milder climates.

One caveat about ornamental cabbages:  used as a cut flower, it starts to stink like cabbage after a few days.  Get around this by cutting the ornamental cabbages for arrangements early in the day you plan to use them and discard within a day or two.

Extend your garden’s growing season with ornamental cabbages.  They are one of the last purely “for show” plants left growing in the garden at season’s end.

Sweet potatoes are a staple in the tropics.

Sweet potatoes are as American as South America.  They are, in fact, native to South America and have been cultivated there for over 5,000 years.  Sweet potatoes spread throughout the Americas, and interestingly, to Polynesia, making it there before western explorers.  The timing of the sweet potatoes’ arrival in Polynesia before western explorers is the subject of much speculation and argument.

The sweet potato belongs to the Convolvulaceae family and the Ipomoea genus, the same genus as the Morning Glory.  Its full binomial name is Ipomoea batatas. Sweet potatoes are sometimes mistakenly called yams, but the two are in different families and are only distantly related.

Sweet potatoes mature in two to nine months, depending on variety and growing conditions.  Early maturing varieties can be grown in the temperate north.  Sweet potatoes grow best in the sub-tropics with average temperatures of 75 degrees F.

Sweet potatoes are grown from “slips.”  The so-called slips grow from sweet potato tubers in storage.  The slips are cut off the tubers and planted in the ground, taking care to plant the slip so the end that was closest to the tuber is at the bottom.

As long as they get lots of consistent moisture, sweet potatoes will grow in all types of soil.  The vines will produce flowers, but only if they receive less than eleven hours of daylight each day.

Harvest sweet potatoes like regular potatoes, when the vines begin to die down.  After harvesting, let the sweet potatoes “cure” at a temperature of about 75 to 80 degrees F. for one to two weeks.  This will toughen up the skins and heal any minor cuts.

Stored at 55 to 61 degrees F. with 85 to 90 percent humidity, sweet potatoes will keep for six months.

If there’s any left after Thanksgiving, that is.