Delicious December

      It is quite unusual to be be able to pick many different veggies fresh from the garden in December.  But then again, not every winter has an El Nino believed to be the biggest in history.  Maybe harvests will continue awhile longer for the cold tolerant crops.  All pictures below are from today, 12/27/15.

Flat Leafed Kale

      Here are two more kale plants that volunteered from under a stack of flowered and seeded plants that were piled here in late spring.  It is actually surprising that there were not dozens of volunteers.  This strain seems to be very cold hardy.  I am hoping for them to survive this expectedly mild winter.

Lacinto Kale

      The darker kale in the middle of this picture is one of the kalette plants that I cloned earlier in the spring. The lighter kale surrounding the kalette is Red Russian kale.  From the similarities in the leaf form, I believe that Red Russian was the kale used in the cross with brussel sprouts to make kalettes.

      These plants are Florida Broadleaf Mustard that volunteered.  I even have some growing in the lawn where they seeded.  If only we would remember to harvest and eat it once in awhile.

The voles missed these two Swiss Chard plants

      These are Russian Red garlic plants that have sprouted from bulbs that never got harvested in July.  They will be needed to be transplanted in the spring to assure a crop for next summer.  Some will be eaten as green garlic over the winter.

Leeks, not garlic

Fresh mint still available

Smaller cold frame

      The cold frames have not been necessary so far because of the warmer weather.  However the deer have not figured out how to pull off the glass, so our lettuce is protected.  There are three tatsoi in the above frame.  Let's take a closer look.

They are beautiful

Kale Sprouts

      About two weeks ago was the first time I had heard about and read about kale sprouts, also known as Kalettes.  Developed by the English seed company, Tozer Seeds, Kalettes are a true breeding cross between red kale and brussel sprouts.  The plant grows tall like brussel sprouts, but instead of sprouts on the stems, there are miniature edible kale plants.
       Now I was interested.  The problem is that Johnnies Seeds is the only American source for the seeds, and being new, the seeds are $10.95 for a packet of 40 seeds.  Naw, for a cole crop?  Yep, I just looked at Johnnies.  Boo, hiss.
       During my internet search, I saw that Trader Joe's carries the kale sprouts, and a visit to my local store got me this for $3.50 for the bag.  They tasted alright raw.

 
I was thrilled to have found a supply of fresh sprouts, because I wasn't going to buy the seed without tasting the product.  Plus I had a devious little thought.  Maybe I could root the little buggers.  A search of the net resulted in absolutely no help about rooting them, but I was encouraged about the trademark issue.  They are trademarked as Kalettes, meaning that you can not raise the plants and sell them under that name, even from seed.  But you can sell them as kale sprouts, and nothing prevents you from trying to root the cuttings from the package.  You can not raise "Patented" plants from cuttings, but are allowed to do so from "Trademarked" plants, but can not use the trademarked name.
      Whoopee.  I now had a whole lot of little plants that I could try to root.  I have to say now that I wasn't really optimistic, though I had to try.

      The bag full of sprouts was dumped onto the table, and you can see three individual plants above.  Look to me like they might root in water.  Four of the little plants were put in a plastic container with a lettuce stub that I was trying to root.  The rest of the sprouts were put in a shallow plastic tray that had about 1/2 inch of water.  The tray is kept covered to maintain humidity.
       I have been checking for rooting activity but with no luck.  But today, lookey here:

      See the roots at by the purple base.  Wow am I excited.

      Beautiful.  And rooted.  Should transplant easily to individual pots.

      The rooted cuttings are from this little covered container.  They have rooted, while the others in the plastic tray have not yet rooted. This little container sits on top of an aquarium light, and I think the added warmth has accelerated the rooting.  I hope to have a large crop started soon, and it will only cost me $3.50 for them all.