Chinese Cabbage. My new favorite green.

This year I planted New Dimension’s Spring Queen and Winter Elf Chinese Cabbage from seed on April 9th, nearly two months ago. Both are said to be bolt resistant and heat tolerant hybrid varieties. Napa cabbage, also known as Chinese or celery cabbage, is milder and sweeter than regular cabbage and its white stalks and crinkly, pale green or yellow leaves may be eaten raw or cooked. For salads I find the interior leaves to resemble butter lettuce in taste and texture and since I have an abundance of it right now it has become a great addition to my daily green smoothie. I don’t usually freeze greens for smoothies, but am going to start since I don’t want any of this wonderful harvest to go to waste. I will be searching for good recipes in the days and weeks to come. 

I have kept these beauties under lightweight floating row covers in hopes of warding off the little green cabbage worms and loopers. The moths lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves and when they hatch they can ruin a crop of cabbage in no time. Although I've not seen any cabbage worms or slugs I am seeing a little damage to some of the larger leaves. I will be investigating in the early morning.

After the rain. Enjoy the show!

For PC, select image to enlarge and click next for slideshow . For iPad, tap once to see first image and tap image to see next image. 

Under cover again and ready for a late Spring frost

Although there is quite a lot to blog about, I have not had much time these past few weeks. I have been predicting a late spring frost so I've been careful not to plant more heat-loving crops than I can cover. Last week we put in a few melons, Armenian cucumbers, tomatoes and basil. These plants seemed to be begging to be planted in the garden and I knew if I lost a few I'd been starting seeds since February - so I have backups. Tonight, the late spring frost I've been predicting is expected. I spent the past hour covering the more fragile plants. In the next few weeks I'll share with you what is under these frost covers. My tomatoes, basil, melons, and squash will see better days and although I'm pretty sure the peas will survive, I covered them anyway. I just read that pea tendrils make a great salad. Many of my spring greens, like the loose leaf cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and beets have been covered with row covers to protect them from the bugs that fly around and lay eggs. I especially hate those leaf miners and am trying these row covers to avoid the damage they can do to a plant.