Larry, I'm not familiar with Chinese cabbage but googled it, this link might help. "Chinese Cabbage"

I see you got the date on your camera reset, congrats.

Also I took the liberty of viewing your album and have a question. What is the purple vine growing along your driveway with the sweet potato vine? Is it annual or perenial?

Thanks in advance,

Keith

Keith, all the vines are sweet potatoes. I use them as a ground cover. My wife is not able to do much out side and asked me a couple of years ago to tale over the flower beds. I know less about flowers than I know about than I know about gardening so I just plant sweet potatoes in the flower beds.

The dark vines are called "Blackie", I think. I have to plant new each year, but some of that bed is from last years roots.

No I still dont have the date right on the camera, I am now one day behind, but that is better than being over a year off. If I can drive a nail through it, or put a bolt through it, I can fix it. Anything thing else I had better leave alone.

Thanks Larry,

I can see now why you were interested in overwintering cuttings of the sweet potato vines. Must cost plenty to buy new each year. We've grown a purple variety but it didn't have the nice large leaves like yours. You asked about overwintering in your bathroom with a skylight, I think they would do fine but if you wanted more light you could rig up a couple of squiggly florescent light bulbs on a timer to similate sunlight. We've got ours set to come on at 4:30 am and go off at 6:30 pm.

I'm kinda like you about nails and bolts and am slowly learning computer. Peggy says I'm 'hacking on a fifth grade level'!

Keith

Napa Cabbage is traditionally used to make kimchi, Korean hot saurkraut with redpepper, garlic and ginger. We talked about it last year on GW so a search should bring up a recipe. I made that recipe tho and it was too hot for us so cut the red pepper the second time. It is also very good wilted the way you would leaf lettuce in the spring. I grow winter radishes to go with it. And I blanch and freeze some to throw into winter stews just as you would regular cabbage. We also shred it and eat it raw in salads.

Larry,

I've linked an old thread below that included a discussion of how to make kimchee and, also, sauerkraut. I don't know if it is the old thread Dorothy was referring to, but think maybe it is.

Your ornamental sweet potatoes look great. Some years, when I remember to do it, I dig up the current year's potatoes and cure them and store them in my pantry. I've had them last all winter some years but not others. Usually, the larger the sweet potato, the longer it stores well. The smaller ones usually shrivel up or rot by mid-winter. In spring, I plant them and they grow just fine. I usually start them indoors in pots while it is still cool outside so they'll be off to a good start by planting time.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Prev. Thread On Cabbage/ Kimchi

Dawn, Dorothy, and Keith, thanks.

I got those cabbage the last of Aug. I was at the Farmers Co-op in Ft. Smith, I bought 5, 9 lacks of veggies and left 2 of the packs sitting on the rack while I paid for all of them. When I got back someone else had picked up the two packs I had sit down, so I just picked up the Chinese cabbage and a pack of broccoli. Now I dont even remember what the other veggies were, but the cabbage and broccoli are growing very well.

Keith, the cost of the potatoes is not too bad. I paid from $1.49 to 1.99 each for them. There is only one on the far side of the drive, and not many on the close side of the drive. The solar light you see (made from 1 1/2 pvc) is at the edge of the flower bed to keep people from driving through the flower bed. The traffic keeps the potatoes trimmed on one side and the lawn side is trimmed with a lawn mower. The potatoes are still almost half way across the drive. I may try to grow them along the highway next year to keep from mowing that steep ditch.

Thanks again guys.

Larry

Napa cabbage and/or bok choy are wonderful in salads and soups. I prefer using baby bok choy or cabbage for my soups, because the are more tender, but you can slice and dice and boil them until they are melty. I just refer to both as bok choy but in reality there are over 20 varieties of these cabbages. Most you can find in the Chinatown markets in San Francisco or the bigger cities or just grow yourself.

Cantonese soups and broths are great with bok choy but I lean more toward the Japanese take on these soups. They are so easy to make, really. Just boil the vegetable, add the flavor you want, whether ham bouillion or fish (hon dashi in Japanese). I like adding a large tablespoon of Miso, some chopped scallions and a few pieces of meat and you have a hearty meal. Add udon noodles if you want a starch, and of course to go completely Japanese crack an egg in the soup in its bowl and cover for a few minutes to let the egg cook in the scalding broth.

Thanks Guys, a lot of this stuff I have never heard of, I have try some of these things.

Larry

Napa is also great for making egg rolls. I make a slightly spicy dip to go with them that's oh so tasty.

Y'all are making me hungry. Now, stop it. lol

Dawn

I had soup tonight will Napa cabbage in it. I think it has a milder flavor than ordinary cabbage. I just cut up veggies I had in my fridge including leeks which were about to dry up and a pepper I needed to use up. I put in a cut up chicken breast and boiled it a while.

I tried some of this stuff just eating it out in the garden because you guys made it sound so good, and it really is. I wish I had learned of this cabbage long ago.

I took some across the street for my son to try. My cabbage may not be in the garden long enough to make a head. I like it much better than the cabbage I have been eating all my life.

DW says she will search for ways to use it.

I may have shot myself in the foot by planting this fall garden and cover crop because I saw deer tracks in the garden for the first time today. I expect I will have a lot of critters by spring.

Larry

Someone on Dr. Oz's TV program listed the five healthiest foods to eat recently, and bok choy was at the top of the list. So when I saw some at Lowe's last month I picked up a six pack. I'm really looking forward to giving it a try. Hopefully the deer or whatever ate the last of our peppers won't find it though!!

Suzie

Suzie,

I need to go to rehab, its getting so bad I want to pull something up and replant before the plant matures. I have planted my last 6 purple cabbage in my cover crop. I bought 2 more packs of radish seeds at the Farmers Co-op in Mena Ar. yestarday. My BIL had to give the $.70 to buy them with, I had already spent my last dime. To make matters worse, I have no place to plant them.

I may dig my sweet potatoes so I can plant something there, but I had planned on planting a rye cover crop there.

I need to be working on the house, repairing the lawn mowers, plus a 100 other things. but every morning when I get up I run to the garden and look for a blade of grass to pull. I give over 90% of my produce away, I need help.

I'm afraid my wife is going to have me commited. I wonder if the funny farm for gardeners has a place where you can dig?

Larry

Larry,
You are toooooo funny!! Your post reminds me of Dawn's earlier one this year about her addiction. If you do wind up at the funny farm for gardeners, I have a feeling you're going to be in good company. :-)

Suzie

Larry, We gave up planting a winter cover crop in our garden after only one year because the deer found it and ate it to the ground in one night. It was winter rye and was maybe a foot high and very thick...and lush and green. Since the fence is only one roll of hogwire tall (3&1/2ft) they can easily jump over. That year we lost all the early lettuce, spinach, and green beans before we got them discouraged enough to stop jumping in. For years they didn't bother it, but this year in midsummer they were back, eating the Tennessee Cutshort bean vines off twice and cropping the sweet potatoes severely too before the dogs woke up and ran them out. May have to follow Dawn's example and put up a double fence.

If deer are a problem, blood meal and human hair are a deterrent but need to be reapplied after a rain. You can also buy a spray at WM and Lowe's called DEER AWAY.

Reminder: do not read these threads when hungry.

YUM YUM.

Jo