Tyfon Holland Greens

[digitS']

This was a year for several new varieties and some totally new species of vegetables in my garden. Escarole will be returning - we really like it and are looking forward to having it as both a spring and a summer green. This year, it performed well sown late.

My Russian kale started out fine but had this enormous struggle with aphids. I sprayed the plants repeatedly but the aphids did a lot of damage and I didn't get much from those Russian kale plants. The other kale varieties came thru okay.

Another new one, Tyfon Holland is a hybrid between a turnip and Chinese cabbage, we are told. I have already written a little about it in the Potato Patch thread (link). I included this picture:

The Tyfon Holland is there on the right and shows the disaster I returned to after transplanting some of the plants. You can see more of them that were NOT moved along in that same line. They are fine, I thought the transplants were dead. (The other plants are bok choy and nearly always transplant well.)

I noted in the potato thread that the Tyfon Holland survived but the transplants were not doing as well as those that were not moved. Things change!

I cannot believe it but the transplants are now, honestly, larger than those direct-sown:

(You can see that we have been harvesting that bok choy.) Don't those transplants look great?!

No, I'm not recommending that you nearly kill these plants to make them perform best ... I'm just totally amazed that they came back so well!

I'm not amazed at the flavor. They taste like a mild mustard green. If you have eaten mustard and decided that it is just too strongly flavored for your tastes, you should try Tyfon Holland.

I'm looking forward to growing it again. Nichols Garden Nursery and Pinetree Garden Seeds carry Tyfon Holland. I like those 2 outfits but haven't ordered from them lately .

Steve

 

[sumi]

That's amazing! They look amazing.

 

[so lucky]

Apparently the Typhon Holland is not as attractive to aphids as the kale, Steve? They look very pest free and healthy. Did you have to spray them? Cabbage worms got my mustard, before I realized they were even there. All that was left were the stalks!
I haven't had much luck with fall greens, although I have tried several different things over the years. I may try this one; it looks great.

 

[digitS']

Aphids were an early problem but these were sown about the first week of August. It was hot! Cooling came a month later. I may have knocked the aphids back enough the survivors were just hunkering down on the kale. They never got to the Tyfon Holland and I didn't spray them.

I remember reading about these greens years ago. One of the seed companies says something about "feeding an army," or some such.

So often, we like to have the experience of succeeding with a challenge. Ya know, I'm not against growing something easy. Wow. If they have any bug resistance - so much the better.

All I might be faced with are timely harvests. Oh no! My always hungry compost pile will be looking over my shoulder!

Steve

 

[britesea]

I've just about given up growing brussels sprouts because of the aphids. They will ignore everything else in the garden if I have sprouts growing. One the other hand, I suppose I could just think of them as the best trap crop I've ever seen....

 

[digitS']

Whoa! That has been the cabbage in my garden, @britesea .

The first year with Brussels sprouts. They took off like gangbusters then the heat and aphids hit. I sprayed them from all 4 points on the compass with insecticial soap. It didn't help all of them the same. If getting a hose out to where that bed is wasn't so difficult, I could have blasted them a few times.

Not much chance to spray or blast aphids on cabbages ...

Steve

 

[sumi]

My MIL let me me pick leaves from the cabbages and broccoli in her garden for my chickens and eew, gross, aphids smeared all over my hands every morning! Extra protein for the birds, I guess? But ugh, I hate those things!