Asian Vegetables

[flowerbug]

The couple of times I've tried Kale as a cooked vegetable I wasn't too impressed but
have you ever tried the kale salad mix sold in supermarkets, comes with dried cranberries, sunflower seeds and a pouch of poppy seed dressing, absolutely delish. What surprises me is hubby would eat this every day if he could get away with it, I love and could live on salad but like a little variety.

Tonight we're having left over oven baked barbecued ribs, hubby wanted kale salad, I wanted a mixed garden salad, we compromised, we're having a baked potato, steamed broccoli, and candied yams. The salad discussion has been left for another day.

Annette

that mix was probably what we tried. no like. eww...

i can eat the dried kale chips in small amounts.

sounds like a very reasonable compromise. i can always eat sweet taters.

 

[HmooseK]

@digitS' @aftermidnight @flowerbug

I eat greens differently. I take cast iron skillet, put some olive oil in, chop onions, garlic and sauté then add the greens and cook them bad boys up. I call it fried Kale.

I guess frying things is a southern thing.

We're countryfied, we like like our chicken fried.

 

[Zeedman]

Interesting link, @digitS' , I've added it to my bookmarks. I had to scratch my head at the reference to the Filipono language, though. Oz has a lot of contact with the Philippines, I'm surprised that one got past their proof readers.

Asian vegetables are a prominent part of my garden - or to be more precise, Oriental vegetables, to distinguish them from vegetables of West Asian origin. We grow at least two varieties each year of bitter melon, yardlong beans, and edamame soybeans. Also adzuki beans, kabocha squash, edible gourd (opo squash), bunching onions, garlic chives, and Filipino eggplant. We have grown Malabar spinach & winged bean in the past (when we lived in California) but they are poorly suited to Wisconsin climate.

Don't grow as many of the Asian greens as I once did; the cool-weather greens tend to bolt quickly in my often-too-short Spring, and we prefer the warm-weather greens anyway. We grow Moringa and water spinach every year. Next to Swiss chard, water spinach is my favorite cooked green; we freeze a lot for the winter. We occasionally grow saluyote (Egyptian spinach), and grew New Zealand spinach for several years... before I finally came to the conclusion that it is completely incompatible with my digestive system.

 

[flowerbug]

Interesting link, @digitS' , I've added it to my bookmarks. I had to scratch my head at the reference to the Filipono language, though. Oz has a lot of contact with the Philippines, I'm surprised that one got past their proof readers.

Tagalog, my long-time best friend married a Filipino gal...

i usually like greens. i'd need a better fence to have more success in growing them. past attempts at lettuces did ok in places but then i ran into Mom's "Too bitter." response to most of them and decided the better answer was to just grow more peas and beans since she'll eat those. she just doesn't have an adventurous palate... garlic, onions and a hint of taco seasoning. i keep a bottle of shriracha sauce and some green chili curry handy for zipping up some things i eat.

 

[flowerbug]

...
Asian vegetables are a prominent part of my garden - or to be more precise, Oriental vegetables, to distinguish them from vegetables of West Asian origin. We grow at least two varieties each year of bitter melon, yardlong beans, and edamame soybeans. Also adzuki beans, kabocha squash, edible gourd (opo squash), bunching onions, garlic chives, and Filipino eggplant. We have grown Malabar spinach & winged bean in the past (when we lived in California) but they are poorly suited to Wisconsin climate.

you've been able to get adzuki beans to go ok there? i tried them here and loved the flavor, but they didn't do particularly well. they seemed to bloom late and could have used a longer drier finish (same for any kind of cowpeas i've tried). the edamame soybeans i've grown here did well, but last year the chipmunks ate almost every one i planted before they got out of the ground. i'd need a pretty extreme fence to keep chipmunks out...

 

[digitS']

@HmooseK , we have a wok but often use a skillet or just a pot for greens with a little oil and/or meat. Stir-fry may be no more complex than that.

Spring is often cool here with July, the warmest month. We will have to see about this year but without much warmth until after the 4th of July then the highest temperatures by the final week of the month, the change is sudden. We may have no rain thru 1 or 2 summer months (3 in 2017!).

These hot and dry conditions mean spinach hasn't much chance beyond a very brief season. Cooler weather may show up by the end of August, still not much chance of rain but first frost is likely by the end of September. Wow! Greens have to either tolerate the coolness or the heat and dryness or have very short seasons of growth.

Bok choy fills those short season requirements but I've been exploring those that can take the heat. Chard usually has those heavy stems that I have never really cared about. I discovered Verde da Taglio chard with its thin stems. Hey!

Kale, I've eaten all of my life but I learned to eat it all of my growing season days rather than wait for the traditional frosts of fall to make tender the leaves.

I'm still exploring amaranth as a summer green and there seems to be real promise there. Malabar spinach grows fairly well with a start in my temporary hoop house, taking over the hoops for support. Bitter melon can grow thru their season using those hoops, also. But, you have to like what grows or what's the purpose ?

There are other uses for that little structure. One of them is just to extend the bok choy season on the early spring end. I can grow Chinese cabbage with its need for more benign weeks in the early season.

Covering most of my at-home garden, I really should set out peppers in the hoop house, uncovering them sometime in early July. Instead, I put them in the big veggie garden where any large pepper plants struggle but Thai peppers have fairly good seasons, perhaps just because they are such small plants.

Edamame soybeans would probably benefit, growing in those more protected, at-home beds. I gave up the garden where Bei soy had such a good chance of a productive season. There isn't the best environment for soybeans in the big veggie garden but I will risk another season for it there in 2018. Edamame is a fun snack for me!

Steve

 

[Zeedman]

you've been able to get adzuki beans to go ok there? i tried them here and loved the flavor, but they didn't do particularly well. they seemed to bloom late and could have used a longer drier finish (same for any kind of cowpeas i've tried). the edamame soybeans i've grown here did well, but last year the chipmunks ate almost every one i planted before they got out of the ground. i'd need a pretty extreme fence to keep chipmunks out...

Adzuki have mostly done pretty well for me, but only because I found a couple varieties with short DTM's... one red-seeded (Takara Early), one buff-seeded (Buff). Both are true-bush habit, and their seeds are smaller than commercially grown adzuki. I usually start those as transplants (two to a cell), and in a normal year, both will mature most of their seed - about an ounce per plant. I also grow a purple seeded (Murasaki) and it has larger seeds & a heavier yield; but also has a DTM that puts them in a race with the frost. If you are interested in trying any of those, send me a PM.

As for edamame... they are the primary reason that all of my gardens are fenced. Even if you've never really had trouble with herbivores in your vegetable garden, you WILL when you grow soybeans. They are like candy to deer, rabbits, ground hogs - you name it. I used to let rabbits roam freely through my garden; they mostly just ate the clover growing in the paths, and (usually) left everything else alone. Soybeans, they will mow to the ground. I use fine chicken wire to 24", with either 6' welded-wire fencing (at home), or electric fencing above (around the rural garden). I'm glad I seldom have to deal with ground squirrels; you have to trap them, no amount of fencing will keep them out.

 

[Zeedman]

@digitS' @aftermidnight @flowerbug

I guess frying things is a southern thing.

Makes sense, given your climate... when life deals you hot lemons, make lemon tea.

 

[HmooseK]

Makes sense, given your climate... when life deals you hot lemons, make lemon tea.

Hey Man,
How ya been? Me and George (Mexmac) were just talking about you the other day. We were talking yard long beans and remembered you could always answer all our questions about them.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i've had luck in the past growing the Chinese cabbage and this year i have 2 new varieties to add to the mix. both are red types, one from Johnny's & the other from Territorial Seeds. before i knew it was a cabbage i thought it was Bok Choi. it still worked for a good stir fry with the summer radishes & other veggies.

this year i have a couple other asian veggies to grow. one is a Japanese chard, not sure what makes it any different other than i think it produces a long taproot that could be used like a radish/beet. daikon i have had some seeds from a couple years ago but for some reason i never got it in the ground. just ran out of time & didn't get more space tilled for newer stuff being added. also have pak/bok choi. i never tried to grow any of the squashes. i will have Japanese hull-less popcorn growing but i don't know if you could use the undersized ears like you do in stir fries. i'd rather let it get big enough for popcorn anyway.