Growing Your Own Vegetables: An Encyclopedia of Country Living Guide (9 page)

PLANTING:
Prepare a fertile soil to sustain a long harvest and plant as you would beets. 50 to 60 days to maturity.

HARVESTING:
Pick individual leaves 1 inch above the root level. Water well and the plants will quickly recover to produce another crop—and another!

Orach

Orach (
Atriplex hortensis
), also known as mountain spinach or giant lamb’s-quarters, does well in regions where spring is too short to cultivate other mild-flavored greens and thus is a good substitute for common spinach.

PLANTING:
Sow seed ¼ inch deep and thin plants 8 to 12 inches apart. Orach is tolerant of poor soil conditions. Left alone, orach can grow to 6 feet, with a plume-like flower followed by a fabulous seedhead that will self-sow thickly if allowed to mature. 42 to 55 days to maturity.

HARVESTING
: Pick or cut young plants when they are 4 to 6 inches, or harvest the tender top growth on taller plants as the lower leaves toughen.

Purslane

Purslane (
Portulaca oleracea
) is a low-growing perennial that can thrive in any soil. It needs moisture to germinate and get going but can handle very dry conditions once established. Use leaves and stems in salad or cook like spinach. The flavor is tart, and the plant is rich in vitamin C and omega-3 fatty acids that help prevent heart and circulatory problems.

OTHER LEAVES

Bitter greens like endive, radicchio, and escarole; wild collected greens like nettles, sorrel, dandelions; and the leafy parts of other vegetables like beets and turnips are all possible choices for producing healthy, home-grown greens.

STEMS AND FLOWERS

W
e don’t think of them as stems or flowers per se, but the following vegetables are all either the new shoot of an emerging plant, the edible stem or a food-storing root-like bulge in the stem, or the flowering bud of a plant. These fleshy parts function as the plant’s food storage site and as such are filled with nutrients, not to mention flavor.

STEMS

Asparagus

Asparagus (
Asparagus officinalis
) is a long-lived perennial. It does well in areas with cool growing seasons and winters that are cold enough to provide a dormant season. It is one of the very earliest and most delectable crops to harvest in the spring garden; however, it can take up a lot of space and be both difficult to grow and slow to start producing. For that reason most gardeners plant established roots or “crowns” rather than starting from seed, which adds considerably to the years before harvest. Asparagus plants are either male or female. Female plants may be identified by the (poisonous) red berries amongst the fern-like growth in summer. Purchase crowns labeled “all-male,” as these are considered to be more productive, with fatter spears.

PLANTING:
When siting your asparagus bed, keep in mind that the plants can live and produce for as long as 20 to 25 years. If space allows, establish a long row along the outside edge of your vegetable garden. This will allow the plants to remain undisturbed by cultivation, yet easily accessible for care and harvest; otherwise plant in widely spaced rows as in the guidelines that follow. Plant crowns in the early spring in the North. In the South, a fall planting is recommended to take advantage of several months of cooler weather before the onset of summer heat.

Mature, productive asparagus plants have strong root systems that spread as much as 6 feet wide and reach 6 to 8 feet deep. A deeply dug, well-drained, rich soil will help plants establish quickly. Prepare a trench 18 inches deep in rows 4 feet apart. Cover the bottom of the trench with a 6-inch layer of well-rotted manure topped with 6 inches of topsoil. Set asparagus crowns 12 to 18 inches apart at the bottom of the trench and cover them with 2 inches of soil. As the plants grow, gradually cover them with more soil from the sides of the trench. Both new and established asparagus beds benefit from 4 to 6 inches of manure or compost each spring and again in the fall to retain moisture, keep weeds down, and provide the heavy feeding the plants require.

HARVESTING:
Wait to harvest until plants are established, according to the age of the crowns purchased—1 year for 3-year-old crowns, as much as 3 years for 1-year-old crowns. Mature plants will yield a harvest for a period of 6 to 8 weeks, beginning in spring and ending in early summer. When spears are 4 to 6 inches tall, cut or snap off by hand at ground level or just below. Young tender spears will have tightly closed tips and a ready snap to their stems; larger spears become tough and stringy. Continue to harvest regularly to keep the plants producing. Once the harvest period is over, allow the spears to mature into tall, fern-like fronds that will gather and store energy for production of the next year’s crop. Wait to cut down the foliage until it has completely yellowed in the fall.

Cardoon

Cardoon (
Cynara cardunculus
) is a tender perennial of the thistle family closely related to the globe artichoke and similar in flavor. Although its huge leaf stalks have been cultivated for over 30,000 years around the Mediterranean, it is little known and seldom grown in the United States.

PLANTING:
In the North, sow seed indoors in March and move transplants into the garden in a sunny position after last frost. In the South, cardoons can be sown directly into the garden in the spring. Cardoons get big! These dramatic and architectural plants can make quite an ornamental impact in the garden, but they must have space; allow 6 feet between plants. Mature cardoon stalks are tough and virtually inedible for their bitterness; blanching, a process of starving the plant of light, sweetens the stalks and removes their harsh flavor. Transplant or sow seed in trenches, gradually filling with soil as the plants mature to produce tender, edible cardoon hearts. 60 to 85 days to maturity.

HARVESTING:
Gather the young stalks and their mild, pale, meaty leaf-ribs from the center of the plant, cutting them off near the root and discarding the tough outer stalks. In a mild climate where winter temperatures do not fall below the high 20s you can divide your harvest between fall and spring.

Florence fennel

Florence fennel (
Foeniculum vulgare
), sweet fennel, or
finnochio
is grown for the swollen stems that develop at the base of the plant. These white bulbous portions of the stems have a crunchy texture and a mild licorice-celery flavor when fresh, becoming even sweeter and more tender when cooked.

PLANTING:
Prepare a light, fertile soil in full sun. Sow seed directly into the garden between April and mid-July, as plants do not transplant well; in warm climates plan for a later sowing so the crop will mature in cool weather. Gradually thin to a foot apart, harvesting the young thinnings for salads. As Florence fennel matures, mound soil over the base of each plant to blanch and sweeten the developing bulb. 90 days to maturity.

HARVESTING:
Dig or pull to harvest when the bulb is 2½ to 3 inches wide; larger bulbs become tough and stringy. The plants will tolerate light frosts.

Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi (
Brassica oleracea
var.
gongylodes
) is a fast-maturing, pest- and disease-free brassica whose edible part tastes like an apple and looks like an above-ground turnip (a close relative). Available in green or purple varieties, plants form curious bulbous stems at soil level topped with a frilly crown of leaves.

PLANTING:
Prepare a fine, fertile, sandy seedbed in full sun and sow seed ¼ to ½ inch deep, thinning to 3 to 6 inches between plants with 12 to 24 inches between rows. Kohlrabi is tolerant of both cold and heat and can be directly sown in the garden. Spring plantings are best sown in small successions beginning 4 to 6 weeks before the frost-free day to allow for several subsequent crops to be harvested before warm weather turns the kohlrabi flesh woody and unpleasantly hot. Fall crops may be sown beginning in late July and will hold for harvest in cooling temperatures without losing their sweetness. Keep the plants well watered and free from the competition of weeds. 45 to 60 days to maturity.

HARVESTING:
Harvest spring-planted kohlrabi when only 1 to 2 inches in diameter for optimum flavor and tenderness. Maturing in cool fall weather, later crops can grow to 3 to 4 inches in diameter and maintain quality, keeping well in the garden and withstanding temperatures even down into the 20s.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb (
Rheum rhabarbarum
) is a long-lived, hardy perennial from Siberia. A good plant for the northern third of the United States, rhubarb actually thrives on being frozen all winter and is one of spring’s earliest producers.

PLANTING:
Plant 2- or 3-year-old roots in fertile soil in spring or fall in an area of other permanent plantings; the beautifully ornamental leaves make this plant a good candidate for working into the perennial border. Well fed, mature plants grow 2 to 3 feet tall and as wide; space accordingly. Remove flower spikes as they appear to maintain peak production of edible stalks.

HARVESTING:
Allowing a year for the plants to establish, you can begin to harvest lightly by cutting or twisting and pulling the largest individual stalks. In subsequent years as much as ⅔ of the stalks may be pulled, leaving the remaining ⅓ to replenish the roots for the next year’s crop.
Note: Rhubarb leaves contain toxic oxalic acid; discard or use to mulch around the plants.

OTHER, LESSER-KNOWN “STEMS”

Broccoli raab

Broccoli raab (
Brassica rapa
var.
ruvo
), also called
rapini
, is an Italian vegetable that’s eaten leaves, buds, flowers, and all. It’s kind of a loose-topped broccoli or, more precisely, the flowering stem of a turnip. Easier to grow than broccoli, it’s a gardener’s veggie you don’t see in stores. Use planting directions for kohlrabi to produce spring and fall crops and harvest when flower stalks have developed buds but are not yet open. 35 to 50 days to maturity.

Sea kale

Sea kale (
Crambe maritima
) is a European perennial cultivated at least since the Romans. Sea kale does best in cool seashore regions. Like rhubarb, it is an early crop and beautiful enough to include in ornamental perennial plantings. In early spring, before new growth has commenced, place a bucket over the plant’s crown to blanch the new growth; this removes their inherent bitterness. Harvest shoots that are 4 to 12 inches tall, continuing until leaves begin to unfurl in late spring. Remove the bucket and nurture the plant through the growing season to rebuild its energy stores.

Celeriac

Celeriac (
Apium graveolens
var.
rapaceum
), a little-known relative of celery, is a valued winter veggie in Europe. Other names for it are celery root, knob celery, and turnip-rooted celery. The edible part is its enlarged, knobby combination stem base-root crown-tap root. Cultivation is similar to kohlrabi. 110 days to maturity.

True celery

True celery (
Apium graveolens
var.
dulce
) is a slow and challenging crop in the home garden. However, garden-fresh celery is delicious, and—if you have rich soil and live where summers are cool—worth a try. Leaf celery (
Apium graveolens secalinum
) or cutting celery is a good substitute; the thin leafy stalks are too strong to eat fresh, but are a good flavoring herb in the kitchen. 100 to 120 days to maturity.

FLOWERS

Globe artichoke

Globe artichoke (
Cynara scolymus
) is a semihardy thistle variety that thrives in southern coastal areas with a mild weather climate year ’round. Artichokes are short-lived perennials with an average lifespan of 5 years. A well-fed, mature artichoke plant may grow to 5 feet by 5 feet and represents an extravagant use of garden space, but it’s a delicious choice if you’ve got the right conditions. Newer varieties have been developed that, although much smaller, are quick to mature, allowing gardeners in colder areas to grow them as annuals.