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  The hardneck group has more diversity in clove flavor and color. Varieties to try include ‘German Extra Hardy', ‘Russian Red', ‘Ajo Roja', and ‘Persian Star'. ‘German Extra Hardy' is particularly cold hardy and good for severe-winter areas. ‘Ajo Roja' is particularly well adapted to growing in California and the South.

  Figure 11-2: Hardneck garlics produce attractive and edible tops.

  You may come across a third type of garlic that's more closely related to leeks than garlic. Called ‘Elephant' garlic (Allium ampeloprasum), this type is grown like other garlics but isn't as winter hardy. ‘Elephant' garlic plants produce huge white bulbs weighing up to a half pound, with large, easy-to-peel cloves. The flavor is milder than regular garlic, and you can store the bulbs for up to 1 year.

  Growing guidelines

  The key to a good crop of garlic is planting at the right time for your area. Garlic likes cool weather conditions and requires a long time to mature its bulbs. For gardeners in cold areas or areas with hot summers, fall is the best time to plant garlic. For gardeners with mild summers and winters, garlic also can be planted in spring.

  Prepare the soil as you would for onions, forming raised beds and adding composted manures (see Chapter 6 for details on onions). Garlic needs well-drained soil — if the crop fails, it's usually due to the cloves rotting in wet, cool soil. Fertilize the beds as you would for onions.

  Plant individual cloves a few inches deep and 3 to 4 inches apart about 4 to 6 weeks before the ground freezes for fall planting or as soon as the ground can be worked for spring planting. For fall planting in cold-winter areas, wait for a few hard freezes and then mulch the beds with a 2- to 4-inch-thick layer of hay or straw to protect the cloves over winter. As the cloves start growing in spring, remove the mulch. Once the soil warms, apply a side-dressing of a soluble high-nitrogen fertilizer, such as blood meal or fish emulsion (see Chapter 15 for more on side-dressing). In spring- or fall-sown beds, keep the patch well weeded and watered; you may want to mulch in between plants for weed control and moisture retention. Harvest starts when most of the leaves have yellowed, but before the cloves begin to separate from each other in the bulb.

  After harvest, let the bulbs cure (toughen their skins) in a warm, dry, airy place for a few weeks. Then braid (just like you do hair) the softneck varieties or remove the tops of the hardneck bulbs, and store them in a cool, slightly damp basement for use as needed. The bulbs last longest in a slightly damp area, but you can store them in a cool, dry place — they just don't stay hard as long.

  Garlic flavor is enhanced in storage; cloves often taste best after stored for a few months.

  Globe artichokes

  You don't have to live in California (the artichoke capital of the world) to grow globe artichokes, which are a thistle relative. Globe artichokes are beautiful, bushy perennial plants that produce baseball-sized, edible flower buds. I love eating them steamed and dipped in melted butter. They're a gourmet treat.

  Globe artichokes are only hardy in warm climates, but you now can grow varieties that mature in one growing season (annuals), allowing northern gardeners a chance to grow and enjoy fresh "chokes" from the garden. Most varieties mature about 90 days from transplanting. ‘Green Globe Improved' is a standard, widely adapted variety. ‘Imperial Star' has been bred for annual production and is good for northern growers. ‘Violetto' features violet-colored buds.

  To plant globe artichokes, amend the soil with a 2-inch-thick layer of compost. Start transplants indoors from seed 6 to 8 weeks before setting outdoors. In mild-winter areas, set out transplants in fall to grow through winter and mature next spring. Everywhere else transplant seedlings in spring. In cold areas, the transplants need 10 days of temperatures between 32 degrees and 50 degrees to induce flower buds to form. Space plants in mild areas 6 to 8 feet apart. In cold areas, space them closer, at 2 to 3 feet apart. Keep the soil consistently moist, but not soggy.

  Fertilize with an organic product such as 5-5-5 after harvest in mild areas. In cold areas, fertilize when planting in spring. Always keep plants well watered and mulched.

  Harvest the buds with a sharp knife before they open. Plants grown as perennials will yield two crops (spring and fall) and up to 20 buds per plant. Annual plants yield 6 to 8 buds from midsummer to fall. Cut back perennial plant stalks to the ground in fall after harvest.

  Gourds

  Certain vegetables, such as gourds, are grown not for eating — because they taste like cardboard — but for crafts, decorations, and fun. Gourds are great to grow with kids because of all the fanciful creations they can make after the gourds are dried.

  Gourds come in two general types:

  Small-fruited gourds (Cucurbita pepo): These come in a variety of shapes — egg, pear, apple, turban — mature in 96 days, and are used for decorating and crafts. Unlike large-fruited gourds, you don't have to follow special drying instructions; you can use small-fruited gourds right after harvest.

  Large-fruited gourds: These gourds are not only decorative but functional as well. Some examples of functional gourds are the birdhouse gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), dipper gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), and luffa gourd (Luffa aegyptiaca). In some countries these gourds are used for making musical instruments! Large-fruited gourds require longer growing seasons (140 to 150 days) than the small-fruited gourds, and you must follow special drying instructions before you can use them.

  Most gourds are ornamental, but some can be eaten when young and have unique flavors. Asian gourds grow like cucumbers (see Chapter 8) and feature strong flavors that are often used in Indian, Chinese, and Southeast Asian soups and stews. Some types to try in your garden include the bitter gourd and calabash gourd.

  Grow gourds as you would winter squash (see Chapter 8). The seeds have particularly thick skins, so nicking them with a file helps water penetrate them and hastens germination. Because gourds love to vine, consider growing them on a trellis or at the edge of your garden to roam the lawn. If you're growing large-fruited gourds in a cold-winter climate, start the plants indoors 4 weeks before the last frost date to get a jump on the season.

  Wait until the fruit skins are hard and the stems are brown (but before a frost) to harvest. Large-fruited gourds can survive a light frost, but small-fruited ones can't. When harvesting, cut the vines, leaving 1 inch of stem on the fruit, and clean the skin.

  Small-fruited gourds can be used as decorations immediately after harvest, but large-fruited gourds need to dry in a warm, dry, airy room for a few weeks. When you can shake the gourds and hear the seeds rattling around inside, they're ready to carve, paint, and decorate. If you want to accelerate the drying process, try drilling a hole in the bottom of the large-fruited gourd.

  Horseradish

  Of the few commonly grown perennial vegetables, horseradish is probably the easiest to grow. These roots are hardy in northern climates, last for years in your garden, and actually can become a nuisance as they spread over time. The spicy-sweet flavor of horseradish is a favorite condiment. It can be grated and combined with vinegar to make a condiment sauce, which can be stored for months in the refrigerator. A good variety to try is ‘Bohemian'. It's hardy and produces high-quality roots a year after planting.

  Choose a location for planting that has partial to full sun, and then amend the soil with compost, digging the soil deeply since these roots grow best in loose soil. Plant horseradish roots 3 inches deep and 12 inches apart in spring after danger of frost has passed.

  In spring, fertilize the plants with compost and mulch with hay or straw to keep the soil weed free and moist. Then in the fall, dig up roots taking the largest (6- to 12-inches long) for eating and replanting smaller roots to grow new plants. Roots taste sweetest if harvested after a few frosts, but they may take two seasons to grow large enough to eat. The dark green leaves make an attractive ornamental. Mulch the plants after harvest for winter protection in cold areas.

  Kale

  If there's one vegetable to grow for purely th
e health benefits alone, kale (Brassica oleracea) is it. Kale offers the highest amount of protein, calcium, iron, vitamin A, and antioxidants (cancer-fighting compounds) of any cultivated vegetable. Luckily, it tastes good too! Lightly steamed or added to soups and casseroles, kale adds a crunch and a mild cabbage flavor to dishes.

  Like its cousin, collards (which I describe earlier in this chapter), kale is technically a non-heading cabbage. It's grown like collards, matures in 50 to 60 days, but has smaller and more fringed leaves. Some new varieties with red and purple leaf coloration are now available. Just imagine: a vegetable that tastes good, is good for you, and looks good in the garden, too! Here are a few popular varieties:

  Some standard curly-leafed varieties are ‘Siberian', ‘Winterbor Hybrid', and ‘Starbor Hybrid'.

  Some of the newer flat-leafed varieties are ‘Red Russian', with oak-shaped, reddish-purple leaves, and ‘White Russian', a white version of ‘Red Russian'.

  For curly-leafed varieties with different colored leaves, try ‘Lacinato' with curly, dark, blue-green leaves. It's often called dinosaur kale. ‘Redbor Hybrid' has curly, reddish-purple leaves with deep purple veins. The color gets deeper as the weather cools.

  Grow kale as you would collards, planting in late summer for a fall harvest. The flavor and sweetness of the leaves improve after exposure to near-freezing temperatures, so I often grow it as a fall crop by planting in late summer, picking and eating the plants into the winter.

  Kohlrabi

  Now here's something different: a vegetable that looks like a flying object from War of the Worlds. It's kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea), a cabbage relative that's also called a "stem turnip" because the stem near the soil line forms a round, turniplike globe, which you eat. Once you get over kohlrabi's odd appearance, you may be won over by its taste and crunchiness. Peeled and sliced, it's excellent in dips and stir-fries.

  The plant is easy to grow and very hardy. Some standard varieties are ‘Early White Vienna' and ‘Kolibri', which has attractive purple skin and coloring in the leaves. If you fall in love with kohlrabi and can't get enough, try growing ‘Superschmelz', a football-sized variety that stays tender and doesn't get woody (tough) even though it's large. The other varieties that I mention get woody if they grow too large or they're exposed to excessive heat.

  Like all cabbage-family vegetables, kohlrabi likes cool weather. It's best grown as a spring or fall crop, avoiding the heat of summer that causes the globes to get woody. Start seeds indoors as you would broccoli and cabbage (see Chapter 9), and kohlrabi will mature 50 to 60 days after transplanting in the garden. The fertilizing, watering, and pest control are similar for cabbages. Harvest the globes when they're about 2 to 3 inches in diameter (unless, of course, you're growing the football-sized variety).

  Leeks

  Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum) haven't received a lot of press in North America, but they're considered a staple in every vegetable garden in England and Europe. I love them because you transplant the seedlings in spring, as you would onions, keep them weed-free and watered, and then forget about the crop until fall. They grow slowly all summer, and by the time cool temperatures arrive, they've formed thick stalks that can be harvested and sautéed in butter or added to soups, such as potato-leek. The flavor is milder than that of onions and takes on a slightly sweeter flavor after a few cold nights.

  Some leek varieties are very cold-tolerant, so you can harvest right through the winter in many areas. Varieties such as ‘Bandit' are winter hardy and have attractive blue-green-colored foliage that makes leeks a beautiful ornamental as well. Some other good varieties to try are ‘King Richard', ‘Lancelot Hybrid', and ‘Giant Musselburg'.

  Leeks need a long season to mature — nearly 100 days for many varieties. For cold-winter areas, start seeds in early spring as you would for onions — about 8 to 12 weeks before your last frost date. For mild-winter areas, start seeds in late summer for a fall planting and winter harvest. Transplant the seedlings 6 inches apart into 6-inch-deep trenches filled halfway with compost. Fill in the rest of the trench with garden soil as the leeks grow.

  Leeks are commonly purchased as plants, allowing you to skip the step of seeding them so early.

  Like onions, leeks don't compete well with weeds, so be diligent about weeding. Water and fertilize as you would onions (see Chapter 6). When the stalks have thickened and after a few cool nights, begin harvesting. Certain hardy varieties such as ‘Bandit' can withstand temperatures below 20 degrees and can be harvested and eaten all winter in mild-winter areas. Other varieties can be mulched with hay to allow you to keep harvesting into the winter, even in cold areas. Even if leeks freeze, they can still be eaten as long as they're cooked right away.

  Hilling the stalks two to three times during the growing season will blanch the bottom of the stems white (see Chapter 6 for more on hilling). The flavor of the blanched stems is milder, and the texture is more tender than the green stems.

  Mizuna

  Mizuna (Brassica rapa) is a leafy-type, Oriental green that's often found in mesclun mixes. Mizuna has a small white stem and deeply cut leaves with a mild, mustardy flavor. ‘Kyoto' is a deeply fringed, white-stemmed variety. A purple-fringed variety, ‘Purple Mizuna', is now available as well.

  Mizuna matures from direct seeding in about 40 days. As with lettuce, you can plant successive crops of mizuna to add zip to salads and stir-fries. It also can be cut and allowed to regrow many times. Treat it like any green (see Chapter 10) as far as seeding, watering, and fertilizing, and watch out for flea beetles eating the leaves.

  Okra

  Okra (Ablemoschus esculentus) is a classic southern vegetable that loves the heat. In fact, it's one of the few vegetables that keeps producing during the dog days of summer in the South. This tall (4 to 10 feet), stalky plant produces attractive, trumpetlike flowers along the main stem that mature into okra pods, making it a beautiful addition to a flower garden. Some varieties, such as ‘Red Burgundy', have colorful leaves to boot! Each flower potentially produces one pod. The pods can be fried, pickled, baked, boiled, and eaten on their own or used in soups and stews such as gumbo. Some people don't like the sticky nature of the insides of the pod, but I love them broiled with a little oil.

  The standard okra variety is ‘Clemson Spineless', which matures in 60 days. But for gardeners with a short growing season, better choices are ‘Annie Oakley II' and ‘Cajun Delight Hybrid', which mature about 50 days from seeding.

  ‘Little Lucy' is a small variety that has burgundy-colored leaves, pods, and stems and only grows 2 feet tall. The yellow flowers have red throats, making them a beautiful contrast to the red foliage. Because of its size, ‘Little Lucy' is a great container plant.

  Okra needs heat! Don't direct seed or transplant okra until the soil temperature is at least 65 degrees, usually in early summer. Start seeds indoors 4 to 6 weeks before your average last frost date. In cold-winter areas, lay black plastic mulch to preheat the soil and choose quick-maturing varieties. Thin plants to 1 to 2 feet apart. Fertilize at planting, again when the first pods form, and then finally in midsummer with compost or a complete organic fertilizer such as 5-5-5.

  Use a knife to harvest the pods just above the cap (where the base of the pod attaches to the stem) when pods are 2 to 3 inches long and still tender. Check the plants every few days. The more you harvest, the more the plants will produce. Because okra seed doesn't save well, buy fresh seed every year.

  Okra stems and leaves have spines that can irritate your skin. Wear gloves and long-sleeved shirts when working and harvesting in the okra patch.

  Pac choi

  No Oriental stir-fry is complete without some juicy, crunchy stalks of pac choi (Brassica rapa) tossed in. If you see the words bok choy, pac choi, and pak choi, they're all referring to the same vegetable. These greens feature sturdy, white, crunchy stalks and lush, large, green, flat leaves. They produce their vase-shaped, very open heads about 40 to 50 days after transplanting and, like other gree
ns, love cool weather. Judging from their sweet, almost nutty taste, it's difficult to imagine that these plants belong to the cabbage family.

  Two great varieties are ‘Mei Qing Choi', a baby-size head that only reaches 6 to 8 inches tall, and ‘Joi Choi', a standard 12- to 15-inch-tall head that tolerates hot and cold weather without bolting. ‘Violetta' and ‘Red Choi' are two varieties with attractive red coloring on their leaves.

  To try your hand at pac choi, see the growing instructions for Chinese cabbage earlier in this chapter. Because it matures so quickly, pac choi can be succession planted in spring, summer, or fall in most areas (see Chapter 16 for details). However, avoid summer planting in hot climates.

  Parsnips

  Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is the quintessential fall root crop. I love to grow these white, carrotlike roots because, like gardeners, parsnips get sweeter with age.

  As with leeks (which I discuss earlier in this chapter), you plant parsnip roots in spring and forget about them until fall. Then, after a few hard frosts, you're ready to start digging. The cold weather helps the carbohydrates in the roots turn to sugar, and boy do they get sweet! But don't yank them all in fall. In all but the extremely cold areas of the United States, parsnips can be harvested all winter right into spring (as long as the ground hasn't frozen) for a sweet spring treat. Some standard varieties to try are ‘Cobham Improved Marrow', ‘Harris Model', and ‘Andover'.