.. It's a Japanese vegetable and I don't really think of here as much like Japan - the west side of the Cascades, probably but not the west side of the Rockies. Still, I grew it about 10 years ago for several seasons. It did well and then I tried it in the shade. Senposai must really not like the shade. Well fine, not much of my garden has shade. It wouldn't work for seeds, anyway. The plant is a real hybrid. It's a cross between komatsuna (much like bok choy) and cabbage. Dang - that's a mule! I'm not sure if the seed would even be viable or how the plant breeders managed that cross of 2 species. I can remain ignorant on that but maybe a tasty green for 4 seasons in my neck of the woods? I wanna know about that.
The gherkins make a crunchy, super-firm pickle to die for. The pumpkin is a breeding project, I've started a separate thread for that.
Ive heard greens called herbs maybe once or twice around here but it’s not common in my area but it could be in other areas the south is a big place. I’m referring to culinary herbs in this case. Sage, thyme, parsley basil all of those. I love to cook but have never gotten to experiment with fresh herbs so I’m really excited! On a side note one of the advantages of living in the south is fresh greens are available all winter. I only have one big pot of collards for my dad but it would be easy to trade some eggs to the neighbor for mustard or turnip greens if I wanted.I will start off saying that nothing beats the days when I can have fresh corn on the cob with some green beans. A plate of fresh sliced cucumber and ripe tomato to start off with and a nice big slice of ripe melon to finish! Nothing beats that time of the year and that good food on the table
"fresh herbs?" I believe that Southerners refer to greens as "herbs." Am I right? Of course, the category is broad enough to include greens like spinach and turnip greens and basil and oregano. I don't really want to call cilantro and thyme "spices" (maybe "seasonings") - if I don't call them herbs.
Oh well. I know that I go on and on about greens in my TEG posts. It isn't that I find them so very wonderful. Mostly, there are a couple of things that hold my interest. I feel that I should eat plenty of vegetables and greens come early and late. Learning to cook stir-fry really added to my use for them sometime during my adult years. Summer greens are a challenge in this arid climate. I'm interested in challenges (especially if I can have successes on both sides of them)!
I've learned that tender leaves of Scotch kale can be eaten right thru the summer. They survive the winter. I tried Portuguese kale and some cold weather early killed the plants in 2020. I have Italian kale for the first time to see how it makes it into spring. Looking at the plants today, I see that one of them appears to be dead. Pretty mild winter so far but I suppose that it would be plenty cold for Portugal and Italy.
This year, I will be growing Senposai again
What I want to try is planting a few seeds in the greenhouse for early transplants and, a few seeds in the garden about the middle of April, then, a few seeds late about the end of August. Can Senposai overwinter ...?
It's supposed to be year around, some places. I remember that it grew large and bolted to flowering. The leaves were tasty before and the buds could be harvested like broccoli and tasted very much the same. The large leaves were like Portuguese kale which kinda displaced my Senposai trials. Portuguese kale is a biennial altho it might be difficult to grow any here for bearing seed. It's not that I want Senposai for seed - I want to learn about its "versatility."
Steve
Lover.
