Woke up to a heavy killer frost on Wednesday morning. Went to the garden after lunch to find the tips and outer layers of the napa cabbages frozen. Surprisingly the baby bok choy, Shanghai bok choy and scallions were not frozen. Harvested all (photo below shows part of the harvest).
Left to right: Napa, Baby Bok Choy, Shanghai Bok Choy, Red Scallion & Green Scallion
The napa would spoil if I did not cook it right away so immediately after taking the above photo, I cut away the frozen tips and outer layers, cleaned and cut the remainder into bite-sized pieces. Made a soup with tofu and garnished with the red scallions. The napa was, oh, so sweet.
Made a simple stir-fry with the baby bok choy, Shanghai bok choy and green scallions. Used as a side.
◊ ◊ ◊
During the growing season, when I need some scallion green for garnish I just go to the garden and get a few blades, with the arrival of winter, that is not possible so I am planting the root end of the scallion indoor in container for that purpose (you can do the same with store bought scallion as long as there are some roots).
Scallion
Leave about 1½ – 2 inches of the white part attached to the roots
Scallion Stubs
Plant the bulbs (root ends) in potting mix and place on a sunny windowsill or other sunny indoor location. The scallion stubs will grow new green tops.
When you need scallion for cooking or garnish, harvest what is needed and leave the stubs to grow more new green tops.
Bought too much scallion? Click here for preserving idea.
◊ ◊ ◊
Dug in some of my carrots and all the celeriac. The biggest celeriac weighed 1½ pounds. The one in the photo below weighed about 1 pound.
Carrots & Celeriac
A few of the carrots were split, they were used immediately. The others and the celeriac were placed in a container, covered with pro-mix and stored in the unheated garage for use throughout the winter months.
◊ ◊ ◊
The Forellenschluss lettuce growing in container suffered only minor frost damage.
Container Forellenschluss Lettuce
(got a little frost bite)
Removed and discarded the unusable leaves. Harvested some of the usable leaves. Had enough for 2 large salads.
Forellenschluss Lettuce after tidied up & harvested
I now have a seed starting stand with grow lights that my son-in-law built for me. Have always been a windowsill seed starting gardener, with the upgrade to a stand with grow lights, got some homework to do so that I can make the most use of my new toy (will write a post about it at a later date).
Decided to place the lettuce on the stand under the grow light
How will they do under artificially lights? I read that the lights should be on for at least 12 hours daily. Is it cost effective? Subjects for a later post.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
Copyright © by Norma Chang. All Rights Reserved. Do not use/repost any photos and/or articles without permission.
Visit Daphne’s Dandelions http://daphnesdandelions.blogspot.com/ for more Harvest Mondays
Garden to Wok 
There is no stopping you now with your grow lights. 🙂
Hello Karen,
I first need to learn about how the grow lights work.
I’m such a geek and I’m curious. So lets see, you have four 2′ bulbs? A 2′ T8 bulb is 17 watts. So a total of 68 watts. 68 watts x 12 hours x 30 days a month = 24.5 kWh/month. At $0.20/kWh it would be $4.90 a month. At $0.15/kWh it would be $3.68/month. Actually it would be a little more since if I were doing it I’d put in a timer. You probably can get enough lettuce to cover that cost, but them again home grown lettuce is priceless right?
BTW usually I tell people that they don’t need anything but cool white lights to grow seedlings, but for a crop you are eating you want full spectrum. Different spectrums of light (though primarily in the blue and red peaks), will create different chemicals in the plant (like caratenoids and bioflavonoids). So to have the healthiest food you need expensive bulbs. Though those full spectrum bulbs are so much cheaper than they used to be.
Hello Daphne,
Thanks for doing the math for me. I pay 18 cents per kWh so my cost would be $4.41/month plus cost for using timer. Need to learn about the different spectrums of light.
Norma, thank you for the wonderful tips in your blog post today:) I don’t have scallion stubs to plant in tubs indoor but perhaps I could put the sprouting onions instead? Looking foward to your coming post on your thoughts and observation about grow lights.
Hello Annie,
You are welcome. I have never tried sprouting onions indoors, let me know how it work.
You have a wonderful garden, Norma. At this time of year, I can’t even keep my herbs alive 😦
Hello Angie,
Thanks, but the gardening season has come to an end.
That’s great info on planting the scallion roots. I’m thinking it might be cheaper to buy a bunch of them at the grocery, eat the tops and plant the bottoms, vs buying a packet of bunching onion seed and nursing the seedlings for a month or so.
I usually leave my lights on seedlings for 14-15 hours, and I have them on a timer. I bet you will like the light growing for seed starting!
Hello Dave,
What a great idea, I am going to do just that next year and forget about starting scallions from seeds.
I am looking forward to using my seed stand with grow lights for seed starting, will be so much easier than the windowsill.
You always have such clever ideas! Love the idea of planting scallion bottoms. I don’t have to do it indoors, but like Dave said, it seems to be a quick way to get them started in the garden.
Hello Michelle,
Thanks. I am going to use Dave’s idea next year.
What a great harvest for this time of year in the northeast! I’m amazed! Thanks for the scallion tip, looks worth trying!
Hello Patsy,
You are welcome. Am afraid the gardening season is coming to an end.
Great post Norma. Love the monster celeriac, and those fabulously-shaped carrots! My 9-year old will enjoy reading this too. He has become quite the mini-gardener and we have a row of pots outside with all kinds of lettuces popping up, thanks to him.
Hello Saskia,
How lovely that your 9-year old is into gardening. His lettuces will make the best tasting salad.
OH I had no idea you could do that with scallion bottoms!! What a great post! Thanks so much..
Hello Karrie,
Welcome, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment.
Norma, you do so well with celeriac, we’ve never managed to grow one that was anything other than all roots! I’m glad you were able to save the napa! x
Hello Celia,
Perhaps your nursery person can help you select a celeriac variety that will perform well where you are.
I didn’t know vegetables could grow in such freezing conditions. I also didn’t know you can harvest vegetables that have become frozen. Here in Sydney we’re just not exposed to those kinds of conditions. Amazing! xx
Hello Charlie,
A number of veggies are pretty hardy and will survive the winter if it is not a very harsh one. I mulched some of my parsnips with a thick layer of leaves, they will over winter in the garden to be harvested early next spring.
That was quite a harvest, Norma! I have to say I love reading about the grow lights and Daphne’s math. I’ve used regular fluorescent shop lights to grow my seedlings, but maybe I should invest in proper grow lights since they have full spectrum and all. Looking forward to updates about them, Norma. XOXO, Angie.
Hello Angie,
Thanks. I am grateful to Daphne for doing the math for me. I need to learn about the benefits of the full spectrum lights versus the regular fluorescent shop lights.
This is a eal good harvest, dear Norma & thanks for the lovely tip! xx
Hello Sophie,
Thanks and you are welcome.
Still looks like you have a great harvest, even though gardening season is coming to an end. Love the carrots and celeriac!
Hello Annie,
Yes it was but this is most likely the end.
That is a great hint about regrowing your scallions and green onions. Will have to give that a try. I love that photo shot of your lettuce with the glow lights amazing!
Hello Bam,
Thanks. Wasn’t sure how I was going to take the photo sure happy it came out good.
It’s difficult to think about frozen veggies when it’s 90 degrees outside. 🙂 We never had anything growing in the winter in Maine. The ground was frozen solid for a few feet deep.
Hello Maureen,
It will be a looooong while before we have 90 degrees temp not too bad just now only in the low 30’s.
I never thought about growing scallions and lettuce that I’ve harvested indoors. What a great idea!
Hello Thomas,
Welcome, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. Glad you like my ideas.
The freeze is really ruining gardens :(. I never thought about replanting scallions like how you did it and that is a total “duh Ray” at my end haha! Thank you Norma and stay warm. 🙂
Hello Ray,
Many people place the scallion root ends in water but I prefer to use planting mix.
With such a hard frost, Norma, it’s a wonder that anything was salvageable, let alone the nice harvest you collected. I find it amazing that it’s mid-December and you’re still picking things. Once you learn more about using artificial lighting, you’ll be reaping vegetables all Winter long. 🙂
Hello John,
After the holidays, when things calm down a bit I will be spending time learning about plants and artificial lights and looking forward to doing some experiments, hope I find time to blog.
Damn, i love and wanted the celeriac root!
it’s a fancy imported stuff here in Indonesia, cost me about 20 USD for a single pound
Hello Dedy,
US$20 for a pound of celeriac, that is pricey. But remember we in the northern hemisphere are paying a lot for tropical produces while you are able to get them inexpensively.
I’m anxious to see how these do under a grow light. My kitchen is often too cold in the winter to support much of anything, but I’ve considered getting a light to help a bit.
Hello Shaina,
Welcome. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. I don’t think the light will contribute heat to the plants, but then I am lacking experience and am anxious to learn more.
I just think regrowing scallions is fantastic—lovely veggies as always, Norma!
Hello Angela,
Thanks.
My phone is eating my comments. I was here on Monday and left a very long story but before I had a chance to post it, my phone offered a giant belch and the comment was gone. Of course I’m exaggerating about the belch, but I thought it sounded funny!
I remember your post last year about the scallions and as luck would have it, one of my indoor herbs died so I have space in my pot — I’m definitely going to try this as soon as I get fresh scallions.
Tuesday and Wednesday I was doing some recipe testing for a company; it’s quite interesting and I thought of you that you would enjoy doing this type of thing. You have to follow the recipe to a “T” making notes along the way about technique, instructions and tips and then you have to try the finished product and make recommendations: too salty, not salty enough, texture, flavours etc. It was unfortunate that the recipes I tested were not really my cup of tea (using store bought finished ingredients to make the job easier) but it was a great experience. Next week I’ll be preparing the recipes for a client tasting on Wednesday. These new experiences are keeping my life exciting. Are you coming up to Toronto over the holidays?
Hello Eva,
Yes, I would very much enjoy a job doing recipe testing and tasting, I too would find it very exciting. Love to hear about your client tasting experience.
Will not be coming to Toronto over the holidays instead having a full house. Need to get my act together and start doing some preparations.
Hi Norma, if we lived closer I would definitely come over to help. I’ve finished my Christmas baking but I of need to order my turkey for Christmas dinner.
The recipe testing is fun, the tasting is so so, depending on what it is. The testing really forces me to be disciplined and follow the recipe making notes along the way.
Hello Eva,
You are so kind. It sure would be fun to work in the kitchen with you.
I am not good at following recipe but if I need to do so for a job I will follow as written even if I do not like some aspects of it. Tasting could be an issue with me too but I do not swallow if it is distasteful.
That soup sounds so light and wonderful!
Hello Alyssa,
After over indulging during the Thanksgiving week, all I crave is light and simple soups.
i buy a few batches of scallions every other week but I’ve never thought of growing my own. How long does it take for them to come out? Thanks for sharing!
Hello Yi,
Are you referring to starting from seeds? If yes, read the seed package it will give you information on the variety.
The stubs I planted already have new greens coming up.
You’re amazing, I’d probably panic that everything got frozen and is destroyed. Love your blog.
Hello Marta,
Thanks. At this stage of my life, I have come to the conclusion that panic accomplishes nothing.