Canton noodles with greens and cusk

There comes a time in every gardener/salad growers life when they get tired of eating salad.  Diversity is decidedly necessary in the diet.  Once we feel as though we can't shovel in another mouth full of salad (even if tangy cheeses or dried cranberries are involved) we start cooking the greens.  

This was dinner a few nights ago: stir fried noodles topped with sautéed brassicas, ginger, onions and cusk.  Cusk is a native white fish.  Supposedly it's related to cod, but the texture is quite different and it seems to work best in dishes that require broken up pieces of fish (like chowder or fish tacos).

What I learned this week

Last week's facts came from reading published articles.  This weeks facts come from other people who've read published articles.  They seem to be all about eating, which is definitely because it is after seven and I haven't had dinner yet.

lots of broccoli planted too close together

No Baloney compared three crucifers (broccoli, kale and brussel sprouts) to see which give the most bang for your buck.  As you know I'm a big fan of all brassicas even if I only get to grow the leafy kind for my research.  Which was the winner? Broccoli!  They do stress that you shouldn't really choose between the three.  All of them should be part of your diet, but not necessarily during the same meal.

I eat salads naked because I don't like salad dressing.  Apparently I'm missing out because the correct monounsaturated fat-rich salad dressings help release nutrients from the vegetables.  According to Mario Ferruzzi, a Purdueassociate professor of food science, "If you want to utilize more from your fruits and vegetables, you have to pair them correctly with fat-based dressings."  One study isn't enough to make me eat salad dressing all the time but maybe sometimes.

Lastly, broccoli leaves are edible.  It shouldn't be a surprise because they are in the brassica family and related to cabbage and kale.  When planting our garden a few months ago we had more plants than space.  Since I can't bear throwing away plants I stuck them all in anyways.  Now, we are eating the leaves from select plants to thin out the patch.  I treat them like kale, and they taste like - broccoli of course.

What to do with all these greens!

From yesterday's picture you might have guessed that I have a lot of salad greens in my fridge right now.  A LOT.  Some nights all we eat is salad.  If you filled up a salad bowl with greens, grabbed a fork and dug in you would know how I feel.  I am certainly not complaining!  Just ready for some salad green diversity.  Yesterday I lucked out big time.  

Two days ago was harvest day for UNH study on growing cherry tomatoes in hanging baskets.  (I looked briefly online to see if there was anything written about this study - not yet it seems.)  So, for dinner I had: tomatoes, garlic, chopped mizuna and spinach all covered in olive oil on toast.  And there was cheese on top.  From the picture you can tell I'm not going to be a food blogger anytime soon.  It smelled too good to take a good picture.

What would you do with 'extra' salad greens?

An outdoor low tunnel in action!

My dad and brother built an outdoor low tunnel using 1/2" pipe and the same heavy weight spunbonded row cover I used during the germination trials.  They bent the pipe around a big tree in the yard a held the row cover down with rocks.

Since I had 144 plants I've been giving away lettuce, mizuna and spinach seedlings to anyone that can plant them.  They were planting a few weeks ago before the spring heat wave.  My dad says they grew like crazy last week and they have been eating fresh salad everyday.

plant profile: Mizuna

Brassica rapa juncea

(kyona, shui cai)

Appearance - Mizuna is an upright green with deeply cut serrated leaves on thin white stalks.  It is part of the hot and spicy group of mustards in the Brassica rapa family but has a mild flavor.  It can tolerate both heat, humidity and cold weather making it a good year round crop.  

Uses - Originally, mizuna is from China but is thought of as a Japanese green that is primarily used for cooking.  Here in the west is mainly used as a salad green but as it becomes more well known its uses are growing to include stir fries and stuffing for raviolis.

Varieties

Culture - Mizuna is easy to grow and should be treated like other Brassicas.  Sow seeds 1/4 inch deep in moderate temperatures between 60-85.  Once the seeds have sprouted temperatures a bit lower, between 55-75 degrees, is sufficient for growth.  

For baby greens seeds should be sown in 2-4 inch bands with 60 seeds per foot.  For larger leaves sow only 15 seeds per foot in 2 inch wide bands in rows 18 inches apart.

Harvest - Baby greens should be ready for harvest in about 21 days, depending on temperature and light levels.  Full sized leaves should be harvestable in 40 days.  Mizuna is a cut-and-come-again crop and will produce multiple harvests.

Pests - Like all Brassicas flee beetles are the major pest of mizuna.  Using floating row covers is an easy method of controlling these pests.  For more information check out the UNH Cooperative extension's page on flee beetles.

mesclun

Endive, lettuce, arugula and chervil from Johnny's Seed Co.

What is mesclun?  The traditional French mix included only endive, lettuce, arugula and chervil, but now it can include any number of baby greens harvested and mixed together.

plant profile: lettuce

Lactuca sativa

Asteraceae family 

Appearance

Uses

Varieties - There are hundreds of lettuce varieties but we'll only be using leaf lettuces - those that don't form heads. Leaf lettuce seeds can be purchased as a few pre-mixed varieties which are chosen to compliment each other.

Culture - Lettuce is a cool loving crop best grown between 60 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit, but can grow in temperatures as low as 40 degrees. For salad mix or baby-leaf size sow seeds in a 2-4 inch band with about 40 seeds per foot.  Cover lightly with soil and keep it moist.

Harvest

Pests

plant profile: spinach

Spinach is my favorite green.  


It is not fast growing like some of the brassicas.  Nor does it have sexy colored viens like swiss chard or red russian kale.  Harvesting spinach can be a true labor of love when each leaf has to be cut individually.  Despite all of this, spinach is great.  No, it's beyond great - it is one really cool plant.  Here's why:

~ Spinach is a diecious crop meaning there are male and female plants.  In the absence of any male pollen producing plants female flowers can ‘revert’ to become pollen-producing flowers, enabling continuation of the sexual reproduction cycle.  

~ Spinach is one of the hardiest leaf crops. It grows best in sandy, porous soil but can adapt to a wide range of soils.  Spinach germinates best in cool soil and can germinate at temperatures as low as 35 degrees Fahrenheit.  

~ Spinach can grow at very low temperatures.  Other leafy crops can tolerate the cold but will not grow.  Spinach grown in the cold has higher concentrations of nutrients like vitamin C as well as higher sugar levels.