Happy Labor Day!!!!!
Hard to believe it is September. I must start paying closer attention to the nighttime temperature now as pretty soon frost will be in the forecast.
Where oh where did the year go?
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Containers’ crops continue to perform well, the only drawback is the watering. Due to the heat and drought, I must water twice a day.
A couple first harvests for the year from containers are: Semi-Heading Mustard and Green Lance Gailan.
The semi-heading mustard (below photo) formed a fist-size head in the center of the plant, and all the stems are thick and tender. Pretty impressive looking plant, it weighed in at just a shade under one pound.
Semi-heading Mustard
I always enjoyed the simple stir-fried mustard greens served in restaurants and decided to duplicate it at home. This is what I did:
Stir-fried Mustard Greens
∞ After washing, cut mustard (leaves and stems) into bite-sized pieces.
∞ Add oil to preheated wok (or frying pan).
∞ Add a thumb-sized piece of smashed ginger and minced garlic to oil. Stir-fry until fragrant.
∞ Add salt and mustard to wok, stir-fry until mustard turns a bright green color. (I like it at this stage but you should taste and continue to stir-fry until reached desired doneness.) Serve as a side.
That’s it! Quick, simple and delicious.
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I tried growing Green Lance Gailan for a spring crop without any success so was pretty excited when I saw how well the fall crop is doing. In the future I will skip spring planting and focus on fall planting only.
Green Lance Gailan
The stems of the Green Lance are pretty fat, about 1-inch in diameter.
Green Lance Gailan
They are in the fridge for the moment.
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The China Express Daikon really took off. The potting mix in the 14-inches deep container is pretty loose yet, as you can see from the photo below, the root at the top in the photo is not straight, wonder why? Also about 1/3 of the root was above ground (same situation with all the other roots).
China Express Daikon
The above went home with friends.
I am also growing Tae Baek Daikon, a Korean variety, they are coming along nicely as well.
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Lettuces were showing sign of bolting due to the heat so cut the entire head (instead of outer leaves). Below is a portion of the total harvest.
After cleaning, all the lettuces were wrapped in clean paper towels then placed in a plastic bag, they should last a while in the fridge.
Had a few extra Forellenschluss Lettuce seedlings in cell pack that I hated to discard so transplanted them into 4-inch container to see how they would perform. And what happened? They grew into good size, good looking plants.
Forellenschluss Lettuce
The down side was they needed to be watered more frequently so I moved them to a shadier area and they continued to do well while the ones in the sunny location showed signs of bolting.
Will harvest outer leaves as needed just to see how long I can keep them in those little containers. Most likely will need to fertilize more frequently.
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Both Eddo (aka coco) plants are growing by leaps and bounds.
Eddo aka Coco
Look closely at the container on the right, see the baby leaf at the base of the plant? I think, I hope, that means a baby eddo is forming. Am tempted to investigate but decided to exercise restraint. I would be so pleased if I could harvest just one eddo.
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Other harvests for the week were:
Figs, Long Beans (Red Noodles and Green), Tri-Colored Amaranth, Peppermint Swiss Chard and Sweet Potatoes Vines. Most were shared with friends and family some went into the freezer for future meals.
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Copyright © by Norma Chang. All Rights Reserved. Do not use/repost any photos and/or articles without permission.
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Garden to Wok 
Your plants look good, especially like the mustard plus your wok recipe. 😃 But how come that when one is young often a year does not go fast enough, but when one steps over the 40/50/60 plus line a year runs away as if on Rollerblades😂😂
Hello Carina,
Please let me know when you find the answer to your question.
It has been years since I last saw and had some mustard greens. Miss them terribly! A great harvest, Norma.
Hello Angie,
Can you purchase seeds where you are? If yes, mustard plants do well in containers.
Loving all of the greens in harvest. Especially liking your green lance gailan. Our famliy loves regular guilan.
Hello Bam,
Thanks. Going to try and get regular gailan seeds for next year’s planting.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen heading mustard. It’s so pretty, it almost looks like a Batavian lettuce. Based on your results I think I will sow a few Daikon seeds in a container. I have a Korean variety (Alpine) I want to try and it should do well there since most of the root forms above the soil. Your China Express looks great!
Hello Dave,
Looking forward to reading about your container Korean daikon. I am not familiar with Alpine but will check it out.
Such wonderful harvests and that lettuce looks amazing! I too found that a little shade goes a long way when it comes to prolonging the lettuce harvest – I usually start covering the lettuce bed with some Agribon, using it as a shade cloth – as soon as the summer heat sets in.
Hello Margaret,
Thanks, growing crops in container makes it so much easier to control growing condition, I am going to focus on more containers next year.
Nice looking mustard greens and the recipe is simple and sounds delicious. I’ll have to try that. I grew the Alpine Korean radish this spring and they did very well. Just seeded more in the garden today.
Hello Dave,
Thanks. I am going to looking Alpine for next years planting.
Lovely to see how well the greens are growing in your containers.
Hello Balvinder,
Thanks, I am pleased with my containers results.
Your lettuces and gailan are doing amazingly well in the heat. It’s supposed to start cooling down for us next week, so I’ll start our fall planting soon.
Hello Phuong,
Yes, they are doing surprisingly well. Interesting that you are starting your fall planting soon and I will be winding down for the winter.
Your veggies look nice! Hope you have a wonderful September ♥
summerdaisycottage.blogspot.com
Hello Daisy,
Thanks, a wonderful September to you too.
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