Starting FALL GARDENS 2011 in Zone 8 - Part 2

Cauliflower heads are starting to form.
This is Snowball about 6" ... I hope it will be ready for Christmas

Fava Beans are also growing strong. I keep pinching the tips to use in salads.

Kohlrabi are just 1" at the base.
They love the cold. I discovered this vegetable when I went to Norway, where it is very popular in all their dishes.

Kales keep growing no stop.
On the left "Lacinato Toscano Kale" and on the top "Curled Kale Vates" (my favorite)

The FENNEL I started from seeds in September is slowly growing.
This is a mistery vegetable to grow to me.
It doesn't like the heat ... but last year it got killed in february ... like everything else ... so I am giving another try.

The bulb is forming

Today (FLOWER DAY by Maria Thun moon calendar) I am going to start some ARTICHOKES from seeds, to put out in the spring.
If I am growing CARDON I think I can also grow ARTICHOKES (which I luuuv)

Drthor, thank you so much for posting pictures of your wonderful garden. I just moved to Burleson TX a month ago from San Diego CA and I'm itching to get gardening. This was always my favorite time to garden and with the cold weather I was losing hope that I could do it out here.

Welcome to TX malorymug.
Yes you can grow all year around in Dallas
I love it !!

I see you like broccoli, kale and chard. Have you ever tried "Gai Lan", which is a leafy Asian leaf-broccoli / kale Brassica? Gai Lan and Bok Choy both have leaves like chard but, to my taste, sweeter and tender enough for salad.

Or the Italian heirloom Spigariello Liscia, Broccolo Spigariello, Brassica oleracea var. 'Spigariello'? This one is hardy down to 25F, once you have the seedlings established. And I've seen it do that in my garden: keeps growing after the snow melts off!

Yes I am growing Gai Lan or Chinese kale and I love them very much. Actually they just finished a few weeks ago.
Spigariello Liscia is broccoli raab ... puhh puhh puhh .. OMG too spicy ... I have tried and it made my mouth burst in flame .. yuk ... not my taste .. yuk ...

But thanks for the suggestion.

My really favorite kales are the KALE VATES .. they are just very tasty and very hardy.

I'm growing bok choy for the first time and it is going to town! A great grower. I thinned them the other day and plan to just chop and saute in a little olive oil and garlic. Mmm mmm good! I also have a mixture of greens, including kale which I love, growing like crazy too. Gotta thin those also. Think I'll add them to the bok choy saute...

Today I have noticed that the Brussel Sprouts are starting to form.

Lots of deliscious lettuce

and Kale Curled Vates (my favorite)

Fava Beans are growing wonderful too. At this time of the year I am harvesting the tender tips.

>> Spigariello Liscia is broccoli raab ... puhh puhh puhh .. OMG too spicy ... I have tried and it made my mouth burst in flame .. yuk ... not my taste .. yuk ...

Wow, sometimes I felt that way about Gai Lan that grew under odd conditions, or Komatsuna ("Spinach Mustard"). That was the first year I grew them (last spring)

But the Spigariello Liscia I got from Hazzards was not at all mustardy or hot. Maybe strongly flavored, like "brocolli but darker" but not hot or zingy. In my case, maybe I grew the Spigariello under more favorable conditions (cooler? wetter? cloudier?).

Or maybe we have different varieties. This Broccolo Spigariello is the only kind of leaf broccoli or broccoli raab or rapini I've ever tried.

I would put my money on different growing conditions. Cooler, wetter and cloudier seems to sum it up nicely, especially cooler, though consistently moist soil would also help.

-Rich

Sounds logicazl to me - we SPECIALIZE in cool, wet and cloudy.

Yet the "cloudy" part doesn;t have to be true for their whoel lifespan: we have a clear dry summer. I kept their soil moist because I was also trying to grow some semi-aquatic, sub-tropical "water spinach" a.k.a
Ipomoea aquatica
"Water Morning Glory"
"Water Convolvulus"
"Swamp Cabbage"
"Chinese Spinach"
Thai: "phakbung"
Indonesia: "kangkung" or Kang Kong
Mandarin: "kong syin tsai" = hollow heart vegetable

No way I could get thast past a few inches! Too cool and dry. Yet it is said to be invasive in sub-tropical wet areas.

I never got the Red Amaranth even to sprout. It was described as a hot-season crop, preferring well drained, light,
sandy, fertile soil. That makes 3-4 strikes against it in my garden!

Corey ~ Have you tried to start the amaranth indoors? I think it likes warm conditions.

I got pieces of this from a local Asian market to root some years ago, but I haven't seen it for a while. I know it's not supposed to be sold for propagation down here - it has been said to get loose in the canals down south. Come to that, there are a LOT of perfectly good plants that are restricted throughout the entire state because of a very small area in the furthest south corner of the state that (almost) never freezes. The water convolvulus is pretty tender (first cousin to sweet potatoes that it is) and won't make it through the winter here in north Florida. It didn't have time to bloom here for me before frost cut it down, so I think its not invasive here in zone 8b.

I've read there are a number of varieties that can be broken down into two major types: one likes growing in water, and the other prefers damp soil. Any idea which yours was?

-Rich

It makes sense that, if they are invasivd anywhere on this continent, it would be in Southern Florida next to a stream!

>> two major types: one likes growing in water, and the other prefers damp soil.

No Idea, though he does mention "hydroponics".

http://ethaigrocer.ecrater.com/p/9641684/400-seeds-water-spinanch-glory-morning

400 Seeds Water Spinach
Or called it as Glory Morning

It's great for cooking. Just stir-fried in a hot chinese pot pan with a little vegetable oil, then you can eat.

Usage as A medicinal Uses:
Spinach is thought to be native to Southwest Asia and unknown to the Greeks and Romans. First cultivated by the Persians, it is now cultivated throughout the world, with the exception of the tropics. Although grown in China for centuries, it did not reach Europe until about 1100 CE after an introduction to Spain by the Moors. In the 16th century, it was still a novelty to Italy, but was becoming an established vegetable in Britain.

As with many foods, it began as a medicinal used for its mildly laxative effects, likely because of the oxalic acid. Although much lauded as a nutritional vegetable, spinach has a drawback in that, while containing high levels of iron and calcium, the rate of absorption is almost nil. The oxalic acid binds calcium into an insoluble salt (calcium oxalate), which cannot be absorbed by the body. The same applies to the iron, as it is bound, leaving only 2-5% of the seemingly plentiful supply actually available for absorption. The idea that spinach contained exceptional levels of iron originated in 1870 with Dr. E. von Wolf whose figures remained unchallenged until 1937, when it was discovered that the content was 1/10th the claim. The oversight resulted from a misplaced decimal point.

Extraordinarily high in vitamin C and rich in riboflavin, one cup of cooked spinach also contains a very high level of vitamin A, folate, magnesium, potassium, as well as vitamins E, B6, and thiamin. Like other leafy greens, spinach has a high water content meaning, that when it is cooked, it shrinks considerably. One pound of leaves can be reduced to about one cup of the cooked product. Since the iron in spinach is in soluble form, the water left from cooking will contain that element, as well as other water-soluble nutrients that should be used instead of thrown away. Despite its unusable iron and calcium content, it is still rich in other important minerals, proteins, and vitamins; and, of all the vegetable juices, spinach juice is said to be the most potent for the prevention of cancer cell formation. Research has shown that those who eat spinach daily are less likely to develop lung cancer. For those less inclined to value the spinach water, it is said to make good matchpaper. During the 18th and 19th centuries, spinach water was used as touchpaper for fireworks since paper soaked in it would smolder well.

Be great to plant for your back-yard garden or hydroponics.

Unfortunately, all of the information from "Usage" on is incorrect. It applies instead to "real" spinach (Spinacea oleracia), which is actually in the same family as amaranth, beets and Swiss chard. It is not true of water spinach, which is in the morning glory family. They have an entirely different chemistry.

It is true that spinach (S. oleracea) generally contains some potassium nitrate if it is well-fertilized, which is what causes the dried leaves to smoulder. I've even read cautions about feeding too much to young children. The oxalate content of spinach is generally higher in the heavily savoyed types then in the flat leaf spinach varieties. That may be detected as a lower "bite" to the taste, especially in the raw leaves.

But none of that has anything to do with water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica).

Incidentally, reportedly some varieties of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) are used as a leafy vegetable, though I've never tried it. There is even at least one variety sold specifically to be grown for the leaves.

-Rich

Thanks, I didn't know any of that.

Do y'all think this cauliflower is ready?

Everything is growing so well here: Fava Beans, Cauliflowers and Broccoli

drthor ~ When did you start your seeds for your fall crops?

evelyn_inthegarden
I have posted all the dates I started my seedlings on this post:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1206730/

I love Fall garden here in my zone 8.

Good job, drthor!

Cauliflower Snow Crown Self blanching

Cauliflower Violetto di Sicilia

This year I have lots of little broccoli shoots and not so many big heads ...
I planted a lot of "Waltham 29" broccoli ... maybe I got the wrong variety this year ...

My Brussels Sprouts are slowly forming

Still lots of yummy salad greens

My favorite is always SWISS CHARD.
This year I am growing on the edges of my regular flower garden.

KALES still growing strong.
I swear: I cut almost half of the entire plant to steam the leaves and it keeps growing and growing.

My FAVA BEANS this year are just fantastic.
I hope no "Superbowl" crazy freeze this year

drthor ~ I take it that you started all of these plants in summer. I did not realize that they would do well in the heat of summer. That is my problem as I started all my fall veggies quite late, but so far, our winter has been mild. Still, they look nothing like yours. Did you cover them in summer?

I started my fall garden in August indoor.
You can have a look at the dates I started and transpanted them out at the first part of this thread:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1206730/

I love to grow the fall garden veggies. So much easy and no problem with pests.

I will have to do that this coming summer. If I can keep up with the weeding, as that is what I am usually doing. Possibly I may not have as many, as I have been able to do quite a bit during the unusual winter we have been having lately.