Find of the winter

[ken]

Just wanted to say that I've grown Komatsuna this winter for the first time, and have been very impressed. It has proved to be very hardy. We've been picking off leaves throughout the winter, and cooking them like spinach - they have a nice, mild flavour. They are now starting to send up flowering stems, which are also edible. I'm getting to the point where I'm now digging up whole plants, as I'll need that space soon for new crops. But it has been very good. One drawback - the snails seem to like it, too. No surprise there.

[Jenny Green]

Is that a Chinese vegetable like Pakchoi?

[Allan]

The Oriental vegetables as a whole are under-rated for winter saladings. Joy Larcom is particularly strong on information on most of them. Also not to be despised are the many chicories, they aren't necessarily bitter. Don't forget Winter Purslane, Montia Perfoliata, previously Claytonia.

[ken]

No, Jenny, I wouldn't say Komatsuna was like Pakchoi. Apparently it's Japanese bred, not Chinese. The common name is mustard spinach, but Joy Larkom says this is misleading because it's not mustardy and it's more closely related to turnip than anything else. It is a brassica, though, as I said in my first note, its leaves cook very much like spinach. And, yes, it's well worth a try.
Allan - I agree that winter purslane is excellent, too. What non-bitter chicory would you recommned?

[Allan]

Sugar Loaf is very good and easy to grow, sow July in small pots, plant out and you should get big plants. Discard outer leaves and you should find those acceptable. Next choice is the midern equivalents of Whitloof such as Apollo or Zoom. They need to be forced in total darkness in the winter and the chicons likewise, it needs only a little exposure for them to turn green and bitter YET YOU SEE THEM ON DISPLAY IN THE SHOPS IN FULL LIGHT! No wounder people don't like them. I won't quote on the raddichios as we are still struggling tto get experience and the rabbits have been allowed on them too often. Seeds of Italy list quite a lot but not enough description so it's a matter of trial and error. Joy Larcom has quite a lot of info.
Allan

[Beccy]

I agree Allan, and think it is quite extraordinary that people go on buying the shop ones.

I also think that Joy Larkom is worth reading on pretty much anything she writes on. Her edition of the RHS Vegetable Garden Dispayed is my 'bible'. I had 'Vegetable for a Small Garden' initially (passed on now I have more space) and she seemed to give just the information I wanted. It's not that other books didn't tell you all sorts of useful things, it was more that once passed the basics Joy Larkom always seems to answer the particular questions I have. 'Oriental Greens' is a great book too. I will stop gushing.

[ken]

Thanks, Allan. Will almost certainly give them a try - I'm getting good at keeping most of my plot productive through the winter. Also, I agree with Beccy about Joy Larkom's great contribution. It's a great shame that the RHS dropped The Vegetable Garden Displayed, but Joy's Grow Your Own Vegetables is packed with tightly condensed info.

[Allan]

I have her Oriental Greens, a useful complement to the others but only worth buying if you are really committed. Even her books only take you so far, after that it's trial and error with copious Googling to help fill in gaps in the info. Plants For A Future has something on many of the families.Sometimes the seed merchants help, other times they can be misleading. For example a cress called polycress, Unwins say one thing, T& M another, actually both are right. Unwins have changed the name. It's a cultivar of ordinary cress with rather larger leaves, grows in the garden or indoors on a moist cloth.
Sometime ago there was a series on Channel 4, Grow your own Greens, the booklet on that series is one of the most useful ever, Joy Larcom had a hand in that project.