I have some Tatsoi and Winter Gem lettuce ready to plant out once the greenhouse border has been prepared. Today, a little later than intended, I sowed in modules Chinese cabbage 'Wong Bok', Little Gem Lettuce and Cos lettuce. I have not grown Cos lettuce nor Chinese cabbage as Winter crops before so it will be interesting to see how they do under cover at this time of the year.
I have grown Chinese cabbage as a late Summer crop in the past and it tolerated cold and a degree of Autumn frost but by that time they were well established plants. The ones I grew this Summer were only partially successful because of the dry conditions and although we were able to pick some leaves they did not heart up.
We grow Cos lettuce because it makes a good substitute for pak choi and Chinese cabbage for stir frying in oyster sauce because the leaves are sufficiently robust to cook this way. In fact we had some this evening with our dinner.
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| Little Gem Lettuce from last Winter which helped keep us in fresh greens through to March. |
Following my Raised Book, I planted some winter lettuces. They've really flourished - but unfortunately we don't really like the taste of these leaves in salads. However I've been serving them wilted like spinach, with plenty of salt, pepper and a knob of butter. As a hot veg they taste delicious. Which is good because I have dozens of them at various stages!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good use for them; better than composting!
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