Saturday, January 12, 2013

Morning Frost

I love seeing a frosty blanket in my garden on a winter morning.

 If I remember correctly, this is Red Chidori kale

 Frosty Apollo broccoli florets

Nodding viola flowers

That concludes my gardening for today. On to perusing seed catalogs...

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Kohlrabi Aliens

I waited all season for my kohlrabi to bolt and go to seed so I can do some collecting.

I knew if they hadn't flowered by the end of fall, I would let them overwinter.

Even though there is still no sign--not even a hint of a flower stalk--they have taken on a life form of their own.


This one developed "pups" at the top of the "bulb" 


This one didn't form any "pups," but just elongated along the soil's surface 


This one split in half, or developed a side pup.

Turns out that these veggies are considered "perennial" which is confusing because the longer you let them grow, their texture becomes woody and no amount of cooking will change it. There is a cultivar 'Gigante' that will grow to 4" in diameter. This cultivar is also known as the 'Superschmelz' which I'm tempted to try since I just love saying that name! The trade off will be color. 'Superschmelz' is green.

I think I'll let the 'Kolibri' (that's the purple one I have) continue to grow and see what it does in the end. Will it ever flower? Will it continue to make pups? Maybe the pups are decent eating? I may also try the younger leaves to see how they compare to kale and other mustard greens. Stay tuned...