The Asian Salad Kitchen Garden Salad Garden

using one themed garden at a time, so I’ll begin with an Asian Salad Kitchen
Garden.  While an Asian salad may not
include the same ingredients that a regular green salad has, you might enjoy
trying something new.  You can also toss
the Asian baby greens into your regular salad to add interest and taste.

Some, if not most, Asian vegetables
are considered cool crops.  However, if
you are growing the varieties for the baby leaf to toss into salads, they shouldn’t
be affected too much in spring and into some summer.  Then too, you can always grow a winter Asian salad
garden and instead of adding the greens to salads, use them in soups and
stir-fries.

For a complete list of Asian
vegetables and their sources visit www.postagestampvegetablegardening.comThe
Asian Kitchen Garden

CABBAGE (Loose head)

Beka Santoh  25
days.  A loose-head type cabbage widely
grown in Japan.  The leaves are light
green, slightly serrated, and frilly white stalks are 8″ tall.  Sow in spring.  Source: 
KIT

 Beka Santoh  loose head cabbage    Photo courtesy Kitazawa Seed Co.

Maruba Santoh Round Leaves  30-40
days.  Mild flavored, heat tolerant and
suitable for year-round growing.  Tender,
smooth, round, light green leaves and stalks. 
Harvest at any stage. 
Source:  KIT

CELERY

Kentsai-Dark Green  30-50
days.  Grows small dark green leaves with
green aromatic stalks.  Source:  KIT

 Kentsai-Dark Green  celery  Photo courtesy Kitazawa Seed Co.

CORN (su type)  45-75
days. A hybrid baby corn that is used in Chinese cuisine.  Each stalk of this variety grows 5′ tall and
produces 4 mini cobs 2-4″ long.  Fresh
cobs are delicious in salads and are perfect for pickling or stir-fries.  Can be frozen too.  Source: 
KIT

CUCUMBER

Orient Express  64
days.  Asian type dark green
cucumber.  Burpless, 12-14″ long and 1 ½”
in diameter.  Source:  BURP
COO STO

Suyo Long  61
days.  Traditional Chinese long fruited
variety that grows up to 15″ long and is ribbed.  Widely adapted.  Bitter free. 
This cucumber needs to be trellised. 
Source:  ANN BOT JOH

LETTUCE

Taiwan Sword Leaf (Pointed Leaf
Lettuce) 85
days.  This variety is from Taiwan.  This Asian lettuce has long pointed bright
green leaves.  You can harvest at an
early stage when the leaves and stems are young and tasty.  This variety is used in Cantonese
cuisine.  Source:  KIT

MUSTARD (Mixes)

Wild Garden Pungent Mix  30-40
days.  Mix of unusual spicy mustard
greens.  Colors include gold, green,
striped-red and solid purple.  Leaves can
be smooth, glossy, or savoyed, while edges range from plain to toothed and
frilly.  Flavors from sweet to pungent,
even hot.  Source:  TER
TERR

MUSTARD (Broad leaved)

Giant Red  40-50
days.  Vigorous growing mustard is cold
tolerant and slow to bolt.  It has a mild
mustard flavor.  This is an edible
landscape favorite.  Harvest at any
stage, micro greens to baby leaf for salads. 
Source:  JOHN KIT STO

 Giant Red broad leaved mustard     Photo courtesy Kitazawa Seed Co.

MUSTARD (Oriental, Green stem)

Tatsoi 
20-25
days.  Forms a flat rosette close to the
ground with tender dark green, spoon-shaped leaves and short light green
stalks.  A vigorous grower it is cold
tolerant and has mild mustard flavor. 
Tatsoi is popular as a salad green. 
Can be harvested at any stage. 
Source:  BAK BOT JOHN KIT SOU STO TERR

MUSTARD (Misome)

Green Boy  30-50
days.  Popular traditional Japanese green
has tender deep green leaves.  Sturdy
stems and a mild flavor that tastes like a combination of spinach and Asian
mustard.  Cold tolerant.  Source: 
KIT

Komatsuna  30-50
days.  Traditional Japanese green has
tender deep green leaves and mild flavor that resembles spinach.  Quick growing, upright type plant.  Heat and cold tolerance.  Delicious eaten at any stage.  Rich in calcium.  Add to your salads.  Source: 
BAK KIT

MUSTARD (Mizuna)

Mizuna Early (Kyona Kyoto)  40-50
days.  Japanese mustard has long slender
stems and dark green leaves.  Both cold
and heat tolerant and slow to bolt.  This
is a cut-and-come-again variety. 
Source:  JOH JOHN KIT SOU STO TER TERR

MUSTARD (Chrysanthemum Greens)

Komi Shungiku Salada  30-50
days.  The leaves are thin and finely
serrated with an almost lace-like appearance. 
The stem grow upright and the bright green leaves cascade from the top
of the stalk.  Fast growing plant that
produces many side shoots as it matures. 
Mild chrysanthemum flavor and aroma. 
Nice addition to salads. 
Source:  KIT

 Komi Shungiku Salada chrysantheumum greens    Photo courtesy Kitazawa Seed Co.

MUSTARD (Baby Leaf)

Crimson Red  20-45
days.  Red mustard green from Japan.  Harvest when young for salads.  Very dark red, attractive leaf shape and
mildly spicy baby mustard.  Source:  JOH
KIT

 Crimson Red baby leaf mustard     Photo courtesy Kitazawa Seed Co.

ONIONS

He Shi Ho (Heskiko)  60-80
days.  Japanese heirloom perennial
bunching onion.  Stalks grow and divide
from the base.  Non-bulbing white type.  Mild flavor. 
Source:  ANN BAK KIT TERR

Red Beard (OP)  40-50
days.  Red stalks.  Mild flavored and tender leaves.  27″ tall at maturity with the red stalks
about 12″ long.  Source:  KIT
TER

 Red Beard onions     Photo courtesy Kitazawa Seed Co.

PEAS (Oriental)

Taichung II  60-70
days.  Chinese edible podded pea.  Well-branched compact plant.  3-4″ long flat pods.  1-2 pods on each node.  Has pink flowers.  Source: 
KIT

RADISH (Sprouts and micros)

All Purple  7-10
days.  Sprouting radish that yields a
harvest of approximately 3-4″ seedlings, which are uniform eggplant-purple
color and becomes more intense in cooler weather.  Perfect for salads.  Source: 
KIT

Seed
Sources

ANN  
Annie’s
Heirloom Seeds    AnniesHeirloomSeeds.com

BOT  
Botanical
Interests     botanicalinterest.com

COO 
The Cook’s
Garden   cooksgarden.com

JOH  
Johnny’s
Selected Seeds   Johnnyseeds.com

JOHN  
John Scheepers
Kitchen Garden Seeds   kitchengardenseeds.com

KIT  
Kitazawa Seed
Co.    kitazawaseed.com

SOU  
Southern
Exposure Seed Exchange   Gardens@SouthernExposure.com

STO  
Stokes
Seeds    StokeSeeds.com

TER  
Territorial
Seed Company   territorialseed.com

TERR  
Terroir
Seeds   underwoodgardens.com

©
Copyright by Karen Newcomb