Yu Choy 油菜 / 菜芯

From seed to harvest 45 days -- first trial, sweet and tender.


I harvested all the plants, I know I should cut the main stalks
and let side shoots develop for another harvest,
but I decided to test for heat and daylight sensitivities;
therefore it's best to start a second trial with fresh seedlings
at a shady location with less than half day sunlight.

Johnny Jump Up (Mini Viola)

The flower is very tiny -- about the size of a dime.



You have seen regular size violas similar in color to this in nurseries,
but this mini version is quite rare in commercial markets
because it is so small and tiny plus time consuming to grow it.
I have been growing this JJU from seeds since mid January,
and it has taken 3 months for it to bloom.

Butterfly Pea and Dok Kae Seedlings 硬頸丫頭

Two dok kae -- 1 pink and 1 red, no problem in germination.
Lower right is butterfly pea, it took about a month to sprout it,
better take a picture of the seedling just in case it dies on me,
at least I can claim I've grown (tried) one!

Butterfly pea vine seeds from Carol
硬頸藍 --- 要水攻熱攻蒸汽攻﹐還要耐心功



Click here for growing butterfly pea information.


If you google its botanical name "clitorea ternatea" you'll find
all kinds of information on this plant. The flowers comes in
blue, pink, lavender, and white.

According to the USDA Plants Database
this is not a noxious or invasive plant in North America.
It is widely distributed throughout Hawaii, California, Texas,
Georgia, and Florida, but I've found people grow the vine in
Oklahoma, Mississippi, North and South Carolina,
Pennsylvania, Maryland etc.
In fact this plant is grown in Washington DC
U.S. Botanical Garden, check it out if you're in WDC area.

Seedling Transplants 今天移植的苗

Transplanted 15 seedlings today -- from left to right:
7 Fresno hot chili peppers
6 lettuce leaf basils
1 purple perrilla
1 Vietnamese hot chili pepper

Shanghai Qing Jiang Cai 上海青江菜可以收了

Six weeks from seed to harvest in cool Spring weather.
Growth pace accelerates when the air warms up,
I expect the growing period to be cut by a week or so
as daylight lengthen and the temperature heats up.

Shallot Green Onions 紅蔥

I planted about 6 French shallots last Fall.
Look how many they've multiplied. I divided the clumps
today and replanted the new shoots for Fall harvest.

Some of the green onions were grilled for steak tacos tonight,
they were sweet, tender, and delicious, yum yum good!

Hapiness is Breaking Loose 有點無聊

1:00 p.m.

2:54 p.m.

4:48 p.m.

12:58 p.m.

2:54 p.m.

4:32 p.m. leave clear soil level

Dah~ dah~ dah~ DAHHH~~~~~~~
7:05 p.m. standing up


外面風嘯嘯﹐有點無聊
看瓜瓜荳子發芽吧。

Bunching Green Onions 大蔥

The green onions I bought from super market must be
the bunching kind. I tucked couple green onion roots
into a corner of the yard last Fall and now I get these
big green onions. What would you do with them?

兩棵小青蔥頭長出七條大蔥~~~賺了。
怎麼用呢﹖問問山東朋友﹐
現在只想到蔥爆牛肉﹐紅燒什麼什麼。

Easter Harvest 今天收的菜

First harvest of Chinese kale gai lan 芥蘭 main stalk,
the side shoots should be forming soon.
This batch weights 1.3 lb

This is the final harvest of the same non-heading bok choy 白菜.
Last 2 harvests were leaves only,
this time I pull the whole plant.
This batch weights 1.5 lb




We had the kale for dinner tonight,
it was the most tender and sweet kale one can ask for.
It's worth all the trouble and work in growing it.

芥蘭十分甜嫩﹐這是值得種的菜,
重要的是沒農藥﹐吃得安心。

Waiting to be Transplanted 排隊等入座

Group picture

Chili peppers 辣椒苗
Jimmy Nardello, Santa Fe Grande, Vietnamese,
South American hot chili﹔Thai, cherry bomb, Fresno,
Jalapeno chili seedlings are not in the picture.

Rear: larger leaf -- Insuk Wang Kong beans (from Jim)
Front: small leaf -- scarlet runner bean

ICU --- tomato seedlings 救回的番茄苗
they were tiny and sickly 4 weeks ago,
the water bottles (with caps off) serve as incubators saved them.

Tomato seedlings 番茄苗~~ waiting for night temp to warm up a bit
before transplanting them into their permanent home.
There are 20 tom seedlings, some are not shown here,
I'll keep 3-4 of the different varieties,
the rest of the seedlings will be given away to friends,
or donate to garden groups for their fund raising event.

Lettuce leaf basil and a lone perilla.

Front: Sierra Gold cantaloupe 香瓜 -- planted 4 plugs,
2 more germinated after this picture was taken.
Rear: Chinese winter melon 冬瓜
2 more seedlings not in the pictures



Wind wind wind ~~~~ 50mph+ gusty wind
Daytime at 50s-60s, freezing cold at night 20s-30s.
wind damage seen on strawberries, squash, and beans,
hope they will recover, otherwise looking at 2nd planting.
Chinese greens are doing great inside cold frame,
bok choy 白菜 is ready for 2nd harvest,
gai lan 芥蘭 is getting big fat and juicy, will be harvested soon.

The above pictures were taken a week ago,
the seedlings have grown quite large, I need to get them
into their new home soon if the darn wind would stop
and the night temperature stays above 32F.
I can't wait to transplant the seedlings.

上星期拍的照片﹐現在已經長大多了﹐
實在不能再等多久﹐
可是老天不合作丫﹐
要命的風什麼時候才停呢﹖

Parsley Roots 挖不完

These young parsley roots if left to grow will become carrot like.
I use the leaves as seasoning and for garnish only, I don't need a
big patch of this herb/vegetable (depending on how you use it)
I have to thin out the patch once or twice a year to make room
for other annual herbs.

You may see parsley root mention by other names:
Dutch parsley, Hamburg parsley, German parsley,
and turnip-rooted parsley.
Europeans use the leaves and roots for soups and stews,
but we don't care for the taste of it, so out they go.

Nagami Kumquat 金桔

This is my 3rd or 4th kumquat tree in 6 years.
(Previous trees were killed --- never mind the $$$.)
Perseverance paid off --- I finally got it to grow and
bear fruits in high desert environment against all odds.

All the fruits were harvested today,
there were 136 kumquats and weights exactly 3 lbs.


失敗是成功的媽媽﹐
終於種出點成績了﹐
可以做什麼呢﹖
金桔醬﹐鹹金桔﹐錢蜜﹐
白蘭地金桔﹐金桔蜜。。。。
還有那些不懂的 blah blah blah.

Paper Pots for Seedlings 幼苗紙杯

Special need seedlings demand special treatment,
beans, melons, squash, and few other seedlings
do not like to have their feet tickle (whom am I to argue!)
I always use peat pots or make paper pots for them,
(read: I am bored, do something.)

Put the filled paper pot into a plastic cup to keep
the the soil moist and to prevent the pot from tipping over.

You can buy some time with this method if your
planting bed is not ready or when weather prevents
you from transplanting the seedlings to their new home.


Here's Youtube video on how to make paper pot


I do it differently:
I use 4 strips of paper for a stronger pot.
Remove the paper pot before transplanting seedlings.
I prefer individual plastic cups (with holes at the bottom)
for each paper pot instead of a large seedling tray.
(Yeah yeah yeah, I know I know.)