Your Warm Season Greens

[digitS']

@hoodat piqued my curiosity. June 18th (planted) August 1 (harvest)

I have escarole now and will have Savoy cabbage, soon. Kale (3types) are ongoing. The beets are beyond the stage when I like them best but there is a chard variety amongst them that I'm pleased to begin trying. What leafy greens do you have to tide you over the heat of summer?

Hoodat called it callaloo. I just found it under "edible amaranth" (Evergreen Seed). Evergreen and Kitazawa each have several varieties, including one called "white." Of course it's green but if you don't like purple food .

Good Heavens, they don't like cool weather! I've also got it planted in the shade. I think I'll move some tiny plants to a sunnier location.

Beets and chards are amaranths. So is red-root pigweed. I kinda like the taste of pigweed but it is a little tough and benefits from a change of cooking water. Usually, pigweed races ahead in the spring, trying to bolt before I can get it pulled in the gardens. I like (NOT) how it can flower before it's an inch tall!

Anyway ... this callaloo isn't much like pigweed. I suspect it isn't much like chard ... I wonder what it tastes like ...?

Steve

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I have never tasted or grew escarole or savory cabbage, so I started to read about. I have collards, kale, Swiss chard, lettuce, I froze a little bit of mustard.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I use chard and kale. Chard is pretty bug resistant but I have to keep using BT on kale to keep the worms under control.

I don't use that much greens during the heat of summer, maybe once a week. I usually have enough other things that I have to harvest to keep them producing, green beans and squash or example, that I can get enough of a variety without depending on greens.

I still have some beet greens. I canned 18 pints of beets last week but the rest just haven't bulbed up like they should. Those beet greens are going to cook pretty soon in our heat, but I'm trying to keep them watered to extend their life. Their days are numbered in this heat though.

 

[digitS']

There are lots of beets out there. I expect them to come to a stop. Hopefully, the roots won't sunburn too badly through the next couple of months and they will come back to life in September. I need to hill those rows ...

Don't you have leaf miner problems some years in the beets and chard, @Ridgerunner ? Aphids in the kale ..?. cabbage worms are only a once in awhile problem. I think that between the birds and yellow jackets, they get the stuffin's beat out of their populations unless they can burrow into the cabbage heads.

collards, kale, Swiss chard, lettuce

Maybe there are about 3 more lettuce plants. Those look okay but their days are numbered. How would you describe the taste of collards, GWR? Close to what other vegetable?

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

Here cabbage worms are not a once in a while problem. If I don't keep up with them, they get totally out of control on cabbage, broccoli, and kale. That's one reason I prefer the flat kale like Red Russian. It's easier to find the worms and the cocoons on the flat kale than the curly, especially before you cook it.

I'm still getting those side shoots on the broccoli. I cooked some florets Friday night and found about a dozen cabbage worms, most of them before I cooked it. I was a bit lax in spraying the BT. My plan is to spray it tonight. Some web worms are showing up on some of my trees so I'll spray them at the same time.

I planted my first cabbage this year back in late February. Later that same day I saw my first cabbage moth flying around them, one of those white ones with the brown circles. In February! Unheard of! I took that as an omen for the year. Start BT early.

I've heard that flea beetles don't do enough damage to cause any concern. That was from someone a lot east of you but a bit further north. I've had them kill my eggplant before. They chew the leaves to a fine lace, the leaves turn to a dry powder, and crumble away. I have to keep up with flea beetles too.

As you once said "All gardening is local". I'm glad those cabbage worms are not a problem for you. Hope the flea beetles aren't either.

 

[Nyboy]

I grew up eating escarole and love it. It amazes me every time a member here says they never heard of it. It s always one of the first greens to sell out at local markets here.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

There are lots of beets out there. I expect them to come to a stop. Hopefully, the roots won't sunburn too badly through the next couple of months and they will come back to life in September. I need to hill those rows ...

Don't you have leaf miner problems some years in the beets and chard, @Ridgerunner ? Aphids in the kale ..?. cabbage worms are only a once in awhile problem. I think that between the birds and yellow jackets, they get the stuffin's beat out of their populations unless they can burrow into the cabbage heads.



Maybe there are about 3 more lettuce plants. Those look okay but their days are numbered. How would you describe the taste of collards, GWR? Close to what other vegetable?

Steve

They taste sort of bitter, cross between mustard and spinach? The texture is what I do not like. I have tried with bacon or ham hocks, and other flavors, but DS will eat collards if boiled, cut small pieces, not a lot of seasoning. Chicken broth, salt and pepper and I agree. I even bought some in a can from the store to see what I thought and I was going to kind of wing it with the ingredients on the can, but just too much something or I have just not found the right recipe.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I grew up eating escarole and love it. It amazes me every time a member here says they never heard of it. It s always one of the first greens to sell out at local markets here.

I have heard of it, but never have eaten it and now I am going to buy some and see and plan on planting some. DigitS plate of escarole looks delicious!

 

[Nyboy]

 

[lcertuche]

I soak my broccoli in water with a handful of salt in it to drive the worms out. Is this how you get them out before cooking?