Vegetable Gardening (77 page)

Some of the newer flat-leafed varieties are ‘Red Russian', with oak-shaped, reddish-purple leaves, and ‘White Russian', a white version of ‘Red Russian'.

For curly-leafed varieties with different colored leaves, try ‘Lacinato' with curly, dark, blue-green leaves. It's often called dinosaur kale. ‘Redbor Hybrid' has curly, reddish-purple leaves with deep purple veins. The color gets deeper as the weather cools.

Grow kale as you would collards, planting in late summer for a fall harvest. The flavor and sweetness of the leaves improve after exposure to near-freezing temperatures, so I often grow it as a fall crop by planting in late summer, picking and eating the plants into the winter.

Kohlrabi

Now here's something different: a vegetable that looks like a flying object from War of the Worlds. It's kohlrabi (
Brassica oleracea
), a cabbage relative that's also called a "stem turnip" because the stem near the soil line forms a round, turniplike globe, which you eat. Once you get over kohlrabi's odd appearance, you may be won over by its taste and crunchiness. Peeled and sliced, it's excellent in dips and stir-fries.

The plant is easy to grow and very hardy. Some standard varieties are ‘Early White Vienna' and ‘Kolibri', which has attractive purple skin and coloring in the leaves. If you fall in love with kohlrabi and can't get enough, try growing ‘Superschmelz', a football-sized variety that stays tender and doesn't get woody (tough) even though it's large. The other varieties that I mention get woody if they grow too large or they're exposed to excessive heat.

Like all cabbage-family vegetables, kohlrabi likes cool weather. It's best grown as a spring or fall crop, avoiding the heat of summer that causes the globes to get woody. Start seeds indoors as you would broccoli and cabbage (see Chapter 9), and kohlrabi will mature 50 to 60 days after transplanting in the garden. The fertilizing, watering, and pest control are similar for cabbages. Harvest the globes when they're about 2 to 3 inches in diameter (unless, of course, you're growing the football-sized variety).

Leeks

Leeks (
Allium ampeloprasum
) haven't received a lot of press in North America, but they're considered a staple in every vegetable garden in England and Europe. I love them because you transplant the seedlings in spring, as you would onions, keep them weed-free and watered, and then forget about the crop until fall. They grow slowly all summer, and by the time cool temperatures arrive, they've formed thick stalks that can be harvested and sautéed in butter or added to soups, such as potato-leek. The flavor is milder than that of onions and takes on a slightly sweeter flavor after a few cold nights.

Some leek varieties are very cold-tolerant, so you can harvest right through the winter in many areas. Varieties such as ‘Bandit' are winter hardy and have attractive blue-green-colored foliage that makes leeks a beautiful ornamental as well. Some other good varieties to try are ‘King Richard', ‘Lancelot Hybrid', and ‘Giant Musselburg'.

Leeks need a long season to mature — nearly 100 days for many varieties. For cold-winter areas, start seeds in early spring as you would for onions — about 8 to 12 weeks before your last frost date. For mild-winter areas, start seeds in late summer for a fall planting and winter harvest. Transplant the seedlings 6 inches apart into 6-inch-deep trenches filled halfway with compost. Fill in the rest of the trench with garden soil as the leeks grow.

Leeks are commonly purchased as plants, allowing you to skip the step of seeding them so early.

Like onions, leeks don't compete well with weeds, so be diligent about weeding. Water and fertilize as you would onions (see Chapter 6). When the stalks have thickened and after a few cool nights, begin harvesting. Certain hardy varieties such as ‘Bandit' can withstand temperatures below 20 degrees and can be harvested and eaten all winter in mild-winter areas. Other varieties can be mulched with hay to allow you to keep harvesting into the winter, even in cold areas. Even if leeks freeze, they can still be eaten as long as they're cooked right away.

Hilling the stalks two to three times during the growing season will blanch the bottom of the stems white (see Chapter 6 for more on hilling). The flavor of the blanched stems is milder, and the texture is more tender than the green stems.

Mizuna

Mizuna (
Brassica rapa
) is a leafy-type, Oriental green that's often found in mesclun mixes. Mizuna has a small white stem and deeply cut leaves with a mild, mustardy flavor. ‘Kyoto' is a deeply fringed, white-stemmed variety. A purple-fringed variety, ‘Purple Mizuna', is now available as well.

Mizuna matures from direct seeding in about 40 days. As with lettuce, you can plant successive crops of mizuna to add zip to salads and stir-fries. It also can be cut and allowed to regrow many times. Treat it like any green (see Chapter 10) as far as seeding, watering, and fertilizing, and watch out for flea beetles eating the leaves.

Okra

Okra (
Ablemoschus esculentus
) is a classic southern vegetable that loves the heat. In fact, it's one of the few vegetables that keeps producing during the dog days of summer in the South. This tall (4 to 10 feet), stalky plant produces attractive, trumpetlike flowers along the main stem that mature into okra pods, making it a beautiful addition to a flower garden. Some varieties, such as ‘Red Burgundy', have colorful leaves to boot! Each flower potentially produces one pod. The pods can be fried, pickled, baked, boiled, and eaten on their own or used in soups and stews such as gumbo. Some people don't like the sticky nature of the insides of the pod, but I love them broiled with a little oil.

The standard okra variety is ‘Clemson Spineless', which matures in 60 days. But for gardeners with a short growing season, better choices are ‘Annie Oakley II' and ‘Cajun Delight Hybrid', which mature about 50 days from seeding.

‘Little Lucy' is a small variety that has burgundy-colored leaves, pods, and stems and only grows 2 feet tall. The yellow flowers have red throats, making them a beautiful contrast to the red foliage. Because of its size, ‘Little Lucy' is a great container plant.

Okra needs heat! Don't direct seed or transplant okra until the soil temperature is at least 65 degrees, usually in early summer. Start seeds indoors 4 to 6 weeks before your average last frost date. In cold-winter areas, lay black plastic mulch to preheat the soil and choose quick-maturing varieties. Thin plants to 1 to 2 feet apart. Fertilize at planting, again when the first pods form, and then finally in midsummer with compost or a complete organic fertilizer such as 5-5-5.

Use a knife to harvest the pods just above the
cap
(where the base of the pod attaches to the stem) when pods are 2 to 3 inches long and still tender. Check the plants every few days. The more you harvest, the more the plants will produce. Because okra seed doesn't save well, buy fresh seed every year.

Okra stems and leaves have spines that can irritate your skin. Wear gloves and long-sleeved shirts when working and harvesting in the okra patch.