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