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habitat_gardener · December 21, 2011

I'm picking mache (aka corn salad or valerianella) now. It's a cool-season salad green that's not in the lettuce or spinach family. I planted it from seed one year and it's come back ever since. It's spread itself around the garden, but it's well behaved.

I started celery Redventure from seed in mid-May, planted out about 30 seedlings along the edges of my tomato beds a few months later, and now they're forming a lovely carpet of green. I haven't tied them up, and I'm finding fewer slugs on them than on the green varieties of celery (or maybe it's too cold for them). The stems are still thin, though, so it's more of a soup veg than a raw veg.

I have a Purple Peacock broccoli plant that's lasted 3 years (with a gnarled woody stem), but I haven't found aphids in the flower heads, so I planted more from seed. It's a beautiful plant, like a flat-leaf kale with ruffled/shredded edges and magenta veins. I enjoy eating the leaves in the garden.

I got 3 seeds of Japonica Striped Maize from a local seed bank, planted them in the ground in the middle of the squash jungle, and pretty much forgot about them. They grew about 4-5 ft. with leaves striped pink/red, green, and creamy white, a pretty ornamental grass. The kernels are dark purple -- very decorative! I read they make a good popcorn, but haven't tried it yet.

What interesting varieties did you experiment with this year?

December 21, 2011	#1
habitat_gardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: California Central Valley Posts: 2,540	what out-of-the-ordinary vegetables did you grow this year? I'm picking mache (aka corn salad or valerianella) now. It's a cool-season salad green that's not in the lettuce or spinach family. I planted it from seed one year and it's come back ever since. It's spread itself around the garden, but it's well behaved. I started celery Redventure from seed in mid-May, planted out about 30 seedlings along the edges of my tomato beds a few months later, and now they're forming a lovely carpet of green. I haven't tied them up, and I'm finding fewer slugs on them than on the green varieties of celery (or maybe it's too cold for them). The stems are still thin, though, so it's more of a soup veg than a raw veg. I have a Purple Peacock broccoli plant that's lasted 3 years (with a gnarled woody stem), but I haven't found aphids in the flower heads, so I planted more from seed. It's a beautiful plant, like a flat-leaf kale with ruffled/shredded edges and magenta veins. I enjoy eating the leaves in the garden. I got 3 seeds of Japonica Striped Maize from a local seed bank, planted them in the ground in the middle of the squash jungle, and pretty much forgot about them. They grew about 4-5 ft. with leaves striped pink/red, green, and creamy white, a pretty ornamental grass. The kernels are dark purple -- very decorative! I read they make a good popcorn, but haven't tried it yet. What interesting varieties did you experiment with this year?