| Scientific Name | Brassica oleracea |
| Growing Days | 50-100 |
| Varieties We Grow | Snowball |
| Growing Notes | Cauliflower is a tough one! I’ll update this if I ever successfully grow one 🙂 |
| Battle of the Bugs | Cabbage moths/worms…ugh! |
| Fun Fact | When the white head is a few inches, it needs blanching (cover the head with the outer leaves with a rubber band or twine to keep light out). That’s a high maintenance vegetable! |
| Don’t Waste It! | Cauliflower is delicious raw, steamed, or roasted. Try roasting a “cauliflower steak”…yum! |
Carrots
| Scientific Name | Daucus carota |
| Growing Days | 60-70 |
| Varieties We Grow | Danvers, Scarlet Nantes |
| Growing Notes | Carrot seeds are tiny! They take 2-3 weeks to germinate and you need to keep them moist and clear from weed competition. It’s a bit tricky! |
| Battle of the Bugs | Carrots seem to be pretty hardy once they get past the germination and early growth stage. |
| Fun Fact | Carrots are “biennial” which means they don’t produce seeds until the second year. That’s a long time to wait to collect seeds! |
| Don’t Waste It! | Carrots are too delicious to waste! Eat them raw or cooked. Don’t forget the greens…they are edible too! |
Cabbage
| Scientific Name | Brassica oleracea |
| Growing Days | 70 |
| Varieties We Grow | Mammoth Red Rock; Golden Acre |
| Growing Notes | Cabbage is a cool season crop. If it gets too warm too quick, it will not form a head and will instead go to seed (ask me how I know!). |
| Battle of the Bugs | There is a moth called the cabbage moth. Enough said. |
| Fun Fact | Apparently, Mark Twain once said, “Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.” (I read that on the internet, so it must be true) 🙂 |
| Don’t Waste It! | Boil, roast, saute, or enjoy it raw! |
Broccoli
| Scientific Name | Brassica oleracea |
| Growing Days | 100-150 days…that’s a long time! |
| Varieties We Grow | Calabrese; Early Purple Sprouting |
| Growing Notes | So far our broccoli has mostly lost the battle… |
| Battle of the Bugs | Oh those darned cabbage moths! |
| Fun Fact | Broccoli is actually a large, edible flower. |
| Don’t Waste It! | Try broccoli raw, steamed, or boiled. The leaves are great too! Treat them as you would collard greens. |
Bok Choy
| Scientific Name | Brassica rapa |
| Growing Days | 45-60 |
| Varieties We Grow | Sozhou Baby |
| Growing Notes | Bok choy does not like warm days. It bolts really easily so plant it early and harvest it before it warms up too much! |
| Battle of the Bugs | Flea beetles like everything, including bok choy leaves. |
| Fun Fact | Bok choy is sometimes called a “soup spoon” because of the shape of the leaves. (That seems like a bit of stretch to me though!) |
| Don’t Waste It! | All of the plant can and should be eaten! Eat it raw, steamed, or otherwise cooked. |
Beets
| Scientific Name | Beta vulgaris |
| Growing Days | 55-70 |
| Varieties We Grow | Chiogga, Detroit Dark Red, Golden |
| Growing Notes | Beets grow great in both spring and fall. Direct sow them every couple of weeks to keep them coming. |
| Battle of the Bugs | So far, beets have been pretty resilient. Flea beetles like the leaves. |
| Fun Fact | Beets are super healthy (and have even been considered an aphrodisiac)! |
| Don’t Waste It! | The beet greens are just as good as the beet root…eat it all! |
Beans — Yard Long
| Scientific Name | Vigna unguiculata |
| Growing Days | 70-90 |
| Varieties We Grow | Chinese Red Noodle |
| Growing Notes | Grow these on a cattle panel trellis. It’s the prettiest place in the garden! |
| Battle of the Bugs | These plants have fared pretty well so far…let’s hope that continues! |
| Fun Fact | Technically, I guess they can get to a yard long. Mine don’t…but they do get over a foot! |
| Don’t Waste It! | These don’t taste great raw, but try them stir-fried, boiled, or in an Instant Pot! |
Beans — Green/Snap
| Scientific Name | Phaseolus vulgaris |
| Growing Days | 50-65 |
| Varieties We Grow | Blue Lake (pole); Kentucky Wonder (pole); Fortex (pole) |
| Growing Notes | Pole beans love to climb! If you pick them, they’ll keep producing (until the bugs get ’em). |
| Battle of the Bugs | Oh the Mexican bean beetle…it’s taken out our harvest two years running. Maybe this year… |
| Fun Fact | Did you know string beans literally have a fibrous “string” you are supposed to remove before cooking/eating them? I found that out the hard way 🙂 |
| Don’t Waste It! | Beans are great raw, steamed, boiled…you name it! |
Asparagus
| Scientific Name | Asparagus officinalis |
| Growing Days | 3 years! |
| Varieties We Grow | Martha Washington |
| Growing Notes | Asparagus is one of the earliest vegetables to emerge in the spring. It takes about three years before you can start to harvest the spears. Keep the weeds under control or you might lose the plants. |
| Battle of the Bugs | The pests haven’t really bothered our asparagus yet, but the weeds are terrible to keep under control. |
| Fun Fact | Asparagus is a perennial plant and might live 20-30 years! |
| Don’t Waste It! | Steamed, roasted, grilled…yum! |
