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  • From: Pat Meadows <pat AT meadows.pair.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Singing the praises of a new (to me, anyway) vegetable
  • Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:37:15 -0400

On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:44:34 -0400, you wrote:

>Greetings, Pat!
> I was wondering about senposai, after reading about it at the
>Evergreen Seeds website! A cross between two things we like - Komatsuna
>and cabbage. The leaves in the photo look very much like the cabbage
>Collards that we received in the round robin and grew out ( btw, great
>hit with the neighborhood back here in the hollar!!). I am wondering how
>it went with pests? Did they attract the flea beetles ( like my
>komatsuna always do!) or the cabbage loopers? Are they sweet as the
>catalogue says?!

Oh shoot, I'm sorry Toni and the other person who answered!

I hit 'send' before I finished, and then I wondered where that message had
gone....

It's a cut-and-come again crop; mine grew back twice, for three crops in
all from one planting.

It's *very* sweet and good and tender, I will NEVER bother with collards
again, never. Evergreen lists it under komatsuna. Here's their listing:

http://www.evergreenseeds.com/senposai.html

My seeds were from Evergreen.

The first batch I grew was early enough that the cabbage butterflies had
not arrived here yet - on the second regrowing, the third crop actually -
they found it.

I grew it on the deck: no flea beetles on the deck. So that was a
non-worry.

I planted it again somewhat later but covered it with nylon net, which I
routinely use for *all* brassicas (or floating row cover). It grew very
large in a Self-Watering Container (which see:
www.meadows.pair.com/swcreport.html.) We had more than we could eat fresh,
so I froze a bunch of it for winter.

I'll be growing another batch in the fall.

My description of it is: like collards but *much* nicer.

NCSU (North Carolina State University) seems to agree with me. (Wow, is
*that* ever going against tradition!).

======================

COLLARDS

* We recommend growers try an Asian version of collards called Senposai
- it's faster growing, much more tender, equally winter hardy and also heat
tolerant. Seed is available from Fedco or Doug Jones.
* Transplant Senposai February 15-March 15 for harvesting April 1-May
15.
* Direct-seed or transplant August 15-September 15 for harvest starting
mid-November on through the winter (with season extension). Harvest of
Senposai starts earlier, in early October.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/SustAg/plantingguide.html#collards

(The page says that these dates are for The Piedmont.)

=======================

>
>p.s. My new to me vegies this year past were Salsify ( now grown out to
>seed for sharing around!) and a new crop of Flageolets, for next year's
>bean bounty.

Do you like the salsify?

I have not grown komatsuna itself yet and I'll be starting it very soon
for a fall crop. So that will be a pleasure for me.

The other new-to-me fall crop that I'll be growing is Texcel greens (seeds
from Bountiful Gardens - www.bountifulgardens.org ). Joy Larkcom (British
gardening writer) mentions Texcel greens in her book entitled 'The Organic
Salad Garden', so of course I must try it. :)

Anyone growing Asian greens really truly should read Larkcom's 'Oriental
Vegetables: The Complete Guide for the Gardening Cook'. Highly, highly
recommended.

It's tough to tell the players without a scorecard; and Larkcom's book is a
score card that helps you wend your way through the forest of names, plus
she tells you how to grow them. Americans need to keep in mind that she's
British and has a very limited understanding of American weather, although
she has made efforts along those lines.

Cheers,
Pat


--
Northern Pennsylvania

CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
http://www.thehungersite.com/




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