What's Growin' On: 10/15/06

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Before




After

Realization Of The Day:
The garden is always full of surprises. And many of them are good ones!

Regular readers of In My Kitchen Garden have no doubt realized by now that unless a plant's situation is really and truly hopeless--or I am desperate for space in the garden--I refuse to pull anything out of the ground.

Like my beloved Nero di Toscana Cat Cabbage, purple kohlrabi is another one of those hardy vegetables that simply refuses to say die. These plants were direct seeded way back in March. The tiny seedlings survived a hard frost and were soon offering up tender, nutrient-packed leaves that I happily tossed into early spring salads. In late May, I thinned out the row of plants to give the remaining ones enough room to mature. (I try never to thin anything until it is large enough to eat.)

Not long after that, cabbage worms attacked my purple kohlrabi and pretty much devoured the leaves for lunch. But they quickly grew back, not caring one bit about the summer heat and humidity they found upon their return. Then Cary discovered them, and she proceeded to nibble the tender little leaves down to nothing but nubs--day after day after day after day. By this point I had given up caring that the kohlrabi bulbs had gone beyond maturity and reached the woolly point, since the only way I really like to eat them calls for using the leaves as well--and obviously I had none.

I turned my attention to more edible areas of the garden, kicked Cary out of the garden, and the kohlrabi bed quickly filled up with weeds. I forgot all about my crop until I went into a weeding frenzy recently and was thrilled to discover that not only had the plants survived, but that while in hiding they had put on yet another batch of leaves.

More tender salad greens without lifting a finger!

Easily started from seed, tough enough to withstand burning sun and freezing cold (including 21 degrees F the other morning), virtually maintenance free, and doesn't take death for an answer--purple kohlrabi is definitely my kind of plant.








Realization #2:
The beauty of vegetables is highly underrated.

NOTE: This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging #55, a deliciously informative traveling event sponsored by Kalyn's Kitchen and hosted this week by Sher at What Did You Eat? Food and garden bloggers from around the world participate, and you never know what interesting new edibles you'll discover each Monday in the roundup. Check out the WHB rules if you'd like to join in the fun, and click here for the list of upcoming WHB hosts.