Evergreen offers three leaf radishes. I prefer the flavor of "Pearl" over "Four Seasons" (the latter gets a little bitter); while "Sai Sai" failed to germinate. Eveergreen offers lots of root radishes that also have good leaves. Right now I have some "Chinese Everest" going with good leaves, but they are weakly bitter. As I recall, Pearl has round lobed leaves, 4 Seasons is lobed a little like Mizuna, while Chinese Everest leaves are not lobed with a smooth curved edge. Chinese radishes that are sown in the fall (watermelon types and luo bok) have good leaves. Evergreen offers several Korean root cultivars that I have not tried yet.

Johnny's offers a leaf radish, "Hong Vit", with beautiful red petioles/veins contrasting with the green leaf.

Agro HaiTai offers several good Chinese radishes.

These evaluations are in regards to eating raw leaves in salad; I have never tried them in kimchi. The heat in all of these leaves is mild when raw, except when the plants get too old; any excess heat can be destroyed by cooking. While some Asian radish leaves, and nearly all European radishes, have prickly hairs (well, not as prickly as cactus); most of the Asian ones mentioned here are nearly or completely hairless.

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask in my response....

What is a seed ball?

Seed balls are a mixed bunch of seeds in a clay & humus ball that you toss on the ground & let nature take it's course. It ends up being like a wild garden type thing. :)

Here's more info:

http://www.pathtofreedom.com/pathproject/gardening/seedballs.shtml

Thank you for the recommendations on radishes!!! :D I'll definitely have to look at those, they sound yummy! :D

Here's the Korean type that is good for making the kind of kimchi I'm talking about:

http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_105-114.html

You can also get the big ones, when they're young & make chonggakmu kimchi, which is delicious. :)You cut them long ways into 4ths, leaving the leaves still attached.. Then season them with pickled anchovies (or anchovy sauce), salt, red pepper powder, garlic, ginger & Korean green onions, with some red pepper threads, mustard leaf & you can add some carrot if you like.. Then you leave it set in a dark place for about 2 or 3 weeks & it'll pickle itself.. Then.. ENJOY! :D The longer it stays, the more spicy & tangy it'll get.- Not very good fresh. Ponytail radish kimchi is made pretty much the same way, except you use smaller radishes & eat the whole thing, instead of splitting it up in 4 long pieces.

There's several types of water radish kimchi, one is sweet with green onions, which I liked a lot.. And there's other types of radish kimchi in general.. I love kimchi.. All kinds.. BUT!~ The green chili pepper kimchi is my all time favorite... Followed by different types of radish kimchi & mustard leaf kimchi.

Anyway... I can give recipes if anyone's interested! ~ But kimchi is messy & time consuming.

Anyone know of good varieties of mustard leaf that'd be good for pickeling?..

Best Wishes,
~ Candy

I found a place that sells Korean garlic:

http://thegarlicstore.com/index.cgi/hardneck.html#4491

It's sold out now, but, just in case anyone was wanting some.. :D

Here is a link that might be useful: Korean Garlic

Candy, my wife pickles mustard leaves. They are mostly just salted and twisted and allowed to ferment. We have grown a suitable mustard and saved seed for a good number of years.

This year, we have planted Gai choi from Kitazawa. DW is anxiously waiting to see what they look like. I'm sure she intends to use them for pickling. I'll have some fresh (boiled not raw) but they aren't my favorite and I absolutely can't go the pickled version. There is another broad-leafed mustard that we grow that is better for stir frying. Also, Osaka purple mustard reseeds itself in our garden every year and we'll have a little of that. No mustard or radish leaf raw, however, Npthaskell. (shudder)

I don't know much about Korean food - thought that Chinese cabbage was the base and other veggies could be added along with the hot pepper and garlic. I like the kimchi that I've had but must enjoy in small amounts . . .

(Seed ball?? I was thinking it must be some prepared food. :o)

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Gai Choi

As far as outdoor planting with your "seed balls," Candy:

You are really going to need to hurry those peppers even in zone 6. We'd never get any peppers to mature planted this late - even pushing the start in the greenhouse. Now, having said that, the little Thai peppers are the quickest to mature of any of the 10 or so peppers we grow. So, you might get away with a small Korean chili where you live but I'd think it would be real questionable if started outdoors.

I bet onion, carrots and radishes would work well. I often have trouble with getting carrot seed to germinate because my gardens are in a dry part of the country. Therefore, I buy pelleted carrot seed. What's the pellet made out of you're asking (well, I think you may already know ;o) - clay. It really, really helps with carrots. For onions and radish, a coating of clay would just be gravy . . . gravy?

How about some bok choi and those mustards?

Steve

"where/what are pine nuts?"

Pine nuts, known in Italian as pignoli, are the seeds from large pinecones. As you say, they are used in many recipes, especially Middle Eastern and Italian ones. Do a Google search for more info. You should have no trouble finding pine nuts locally. They are commonly available, especially in stores which specialize in spices, grains and baking supplies.

Tonight I pelletized a lot of parsnip seed because I've had trouble getting it to germinate in my sandy soil. I got a handful of "mud" from a potter nearby to do the pelletizing.

Jim

hehe hi digit :)

there's almost 200 different types of kimchi & not all of them are spicy. :) there's several water kimchis that are delicious & sweet.. one uses asian pears & green onions in some sweet water (i liked that one) & another uses cubed radish chunks in sweet water. heck, americans eat a form of cucumber kimchi & they don't even realize it! vinegar & water with onions & cucumber = kimchi. lol cabbage kimchi is called tong baechu kimchi, baechu = cabbage :) it's easy to make, but very time consuming.

oh.. i found one of my cook books & it told me what type of mustard koreans use for seasoning their kimchi.. it's called indian mustard in english. in korean, it's "kat". the book says it's a member of the brassica juncea family & has brownish or reddish-brown seeds... but it didn't say anything about mustard leaf kimchi. :( they also use wild rocambole (allium monanthum) & ixeris sonchifolia..

my pepper plants were started inside, don't worry :) they're outside now, though, getting some real sun. it's been too cold to do anything outside. up til this past week, it was freezing at night. looks like we're good to go now, though. :)

as for radishes & carrots, oklahoma summers get sooooooooo hot. sometimes well over 100 degrees with 80+ % humidity.. and the soil here is very much like clay. i could go in my back yard & dig up a buuuuunch of clay. :D lol want some? :D haha

so.. about the pelleted carrot seeds.. do you just put them in clay & then plant them? or do you have to let them dry first, like you do with seed balls? :)

i'm not actually using the soil we have in the backyard, though.. unfortunately, i rent. all my stuff is in pots or boxes outside.. but i have big pots & boxes! lol :)

and thank you jimster for telling me about pine nuts. :D i always heard they were expensive!.. but i'll have to go check it out. :)

best wishes,
~ Candy

These are becoming my favorite carrot, Candy. I've grown them for years but always had some tasty, sweet, longer carrots growing nearby. Nelson carrots are just so easy, with so few problems and good tasting.

(I pay for it but the pelleting makes them just about perfect. :o)

Here is a link that might be useful: Johnny's Nelson Carrots (Pelleted)

> Right now I have some "Chinese Everest" going with
> good leaves, but they are weakly bitter.

Oops, that is "China Express", not "Chinese Everest", that I have going now. Both varieties are offered by Evergreen, I haven't tried "Everest" yet. Just had my first root last night. Half grows above ground, and is slightly off-white with just a trace yellow-green tint. The underground portion is pure white with just a few side roots - it is easy to twist and pull out of the ground. The above ground portion is mild and sweet. The underground portion is equivalent to American red globe supermarket salad radish in heat.