Summer Jean, in autumn

In the category of "vegetables I will definitely grow again" - this is a Brassica rapa cultivar bought under the name "Summer Jean" (it looks to me like a sort of Chinese broccoli, and Johnny's no longer sells seeds by that name, so buy what you can find, I guess).  Despite the warm-season moniker, it is a spring and fall vegetable, and I'm voting for fall, though like most fall vegetables it is a pain to germinate in August.

Anyway, what I like about it is that you can eat the whole plant - the thicker parts of the stem require some real cooking, but the rest can be braised or stir-fried quickly: leaves, broccoli-like florets, and even the yellow flowers that result when you only visit your plants once a week.  The florets are so yummy I couldn't stop snacking on them in the garden - they lack the bitterness this sort of plant acquires in the spring, and are really quite sweet.  Perhaps not trick-or-treater sweet, but pretty close in their own way.

Here it is in place with some misome and not much else.  We have achieved fall clean-up!  What miracles a team of Master Gardeners, some wheelbarrows and newspaper, and a truckload of donated Leafgro can accomplish!

Also, isn't this radicchio pretty?  I just thought I'd throw that one in.

Enjoy your November gardens, whatever's left of them!

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