The Trusty Gardener-Fresh Garden Produce Is Here
Chinese Baby Napa Cabbage, Radishes, Mesclun, Romaine Lettuce, Kale, and Strawberries
Welcome back. I love this time of the year. Most of the hard work is finished in the garden, Although, a garden is never really finished. But that is a good thing. Gardeners get this. However, it’s nice when the garden begins to produce, and that time has come!
Baby Napa Cabbage, Romaine Lettuce, Kale
Recently, I picked some Chinese Baby Napa Cabbage, which I started from seed using the Winter Sowing technique.
The outer leaves of the cabbage had been eaten by some sort of insects, but I was able to salvage the inner leaves. My kale has also been nibbled on. I will have to come up with an organic solution to the problem, something to spray on the plants.
I picked some Romaine lettuce grown from plants I bought at a local farm market. The lettuce seems less affected by the nibbling insects than does the Baby Napa Cabbage and the kale. There is some Romaine still coming from seeds I planted also using Winter Sowing. They will be ready soon.
As far as kale, also started using Winter Sowing, the Red Russian variety seemed to be greatly affected by insects, however, the Dwarf Blue Curled kale was wonderful and untouched. Go figure.
Pak Choi
There’s a reason I didn’t list Pak Choi above in the sub-title. It didn’t do well once in the garden. I planted the seeds using Winter Sowing. They sprouted well and the plants looked wonderful in the greenhouse.
For some reason, the plants ended up bolting and flowering, producing long thin stems, instead of a cabbage type bulb. This was my first ever attempt at Pak Choi. Apparently, it is very sensitive to warm weather, since we had several very warm periods in May and in June. Next year I will look for a variety resistant to bolting.
Mesclun
The Mseclun I chose this year was Asian Baby Leaf from Renee’s Garden. The results have been good, as the seeds sprouted well and have been growing well.
Radishes
I planted a gourmet blend that has been doing well. We enjoyed the first ones recently in a salad along with the Romaine lettuce and Mesclun. Radishes add a great spice element to a salad. I encourage you to give them a try if you never have.
Strawberries
I recently wrote an article describing how I built a strawberry raised planter and planted them last Spring.
They wintered well and I picked the first berries on June 23rd.
Off to a good start, the plants are loaded so should be many more coming. Hopefully the netting will prevent most of the critters from sampling them. Stay tuned.
