Farm Horizons • April
3 , 2017 • Page 18
Growing Chinese greens
Chinese greens are something you might not think of to grow in your garden .
Surprisingly , most of them grow very well in our gardens . They like regular watering , and mulching is a must .
Every year I have been trying new crops of Chinese vegetables and have found that there are many that have a great taste in a plethora of dishes . You can also find some of these at local farmer markets . Ask the growers what they are if you do not know what the plant is ; then you can look on the web for recipes .
The cooler season crops must be planted as soon as you can work the soil or early spring . Wait to plant the summer ones when the soil has warmed up . The following are the vegetables that are considered cooler weather vegetables . Tatsoi This has dark green leaves in the shape of a rosette . They are mild and very tasty . Use the young leaves in a salad . They are a bit slow growing . Winter Chinese lettuce or Celtuce . This plant has celery stalks and lettuce-like leaves . The center stalk is edible and often marinated with soy sauce in a salad or stir-fried . It tastes very tender and crispy . You can also use it like a salad green . This is very easy to grow and produces well . Snow peas This is grown mostly for the pod and eaten in stir fries or stir fry with garlic . The more you harvest , the more they produce . Chinese Broccoli - Railaan This is a very popular winter green vegetable . After you cut off the main stem , the plant will grow . Many branches will develop for quite a few harvests and grows plenty . It also is good for stir frying . Kohlrabi , either green or purple . You can peel and eat these when they are young . They are fresh and juicy , try serving with a dip . They also are excellent is salads and soups , toss some sliced ones in with your regular soup . Chinese Celery This celery has a much stronger flavor than our American celery . The stalk is fairly thin . Try using it like cilantro , to add flavor to your soup , beans and rice or stir fry with meat or tofu . It grows easily and can reseed it if you let it seed . Chinese or garlic chive . This is a staple in many Chinese gardens . Though technically considered an herb , the Chinese often use them as vegetables . Chives are often stir fried with eggs , tofu
or noodles . It is easy grow and can be
Christine harvested all summer long . They thrive
Schlueter in any soil and the flower is edible . Daikon Radish This is used in many dishes for Chinese cooking . Daikon is used in soups , stews , rice cakes and pickles . The small , young leaves can be stir fried or pickled and sweetens soups .
Some Chinese vegetables that grow best in warm seasons include : Chinese spinach , yard-long beans , Chinese okra or luffa , bitter and winter melons , and Chinese eggplant and cucumbers , Chinese chive or garlic chive
These are probably one of the most common vegetables . The Chinese spinach ( Amaranth ) and Southeast Asian spinach ( called Hallow Green , water cress or Ong Tsai ). The young leaves and stems are cooked just like spinach . Chinese Cucumber These are much slimmer , have less seeds and thinner skin . Chinese cucumbers are an excellent vegetable and do well in a trellis . Eggplant Chinese varieties are usually very long and thin , and white , lavender streaked or purple . This need to be picked while they are still young and tender and eaten cooked as a vegetable or stuffed with minced meat . Most will not need peeling when picked young . Plants need some kind of support so the long fruits will grow straight . Otherwise just grow as regular egg plants . Chinese Spinach This is also known as claloo or hin choy . The leaves vary in foliage color , shape , plant height and flavor . They prefer sunny , well fertilized soils and plenty of moisture . Chinese spinach thrives in hot weather and if you do grow it in the cooler season , the leaves may be tough and poor quality . Chinese Okra This is actually a squash relative and is also known as luffa . It has an okra shape and ribbing in the fruit . When it matures it is also known as a dishcloth gourd or luffa .
Okra needs to be harvested while it is still tender . A trellis is the best place to grow and can produce to 10-20 fruit per plant .
This is only a sampling of the many types of Chinese vegetables available . Start checking local gardening centers for some of the types mentioned . A couple websites that offer a lot of varieties are www . AgroHaitai . com based in Canada , or www . evergreenseeds . com from California . I ordered some of mine for this year from www . rareseeds . com and www . kitchengardenseeds . com .
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McLeod County Master Gardener