Fall Vegetables Rush

Cabbage ‘Chinese Blue’

When filling your center with flowers, don’t forget the Fall Vegetables. Cool weather vegetables need to be planted now through September in order to enjoy their sweet and crunchy taste in September and October. Many of these vegetables, like the Cabbages, will last into October and November and taste even sweeter after a frost. Our cool weather vegetables come in the 1801 deep flat, unless otherwise noted. Here are some selections that are shipping this week:

Broccoli ‘Destiny’

BROCCOLI

‘Destiny’ is a shorter Broccoli, bred for southern gardens, so it is very comfortable starting up a fall vegetable garden in Cincinnati. It handles the early heat better and produces small to medium-sized beads on the heads.

‘Lieutenant’ is another Broccoli that can handle early heat, known for straight tight bunches. It grows taller, produces a larger head, and has larger beads than ‘Destiny’.

Cauliflower ‘Self Blanche’

CAULIFLOWER

‘Self Blanche’ is the go-to cultivar for Cauliflower. It defines what a good-looking head should become in the home garden. Leaves curl up-and-over the heads, which grow from 9 to 12 inches across, to protect them from the sun. This heirloom, open-pollinated variety is great for freezing and pickling.

 
Brussels Sprouts ‘Jade Cross’

BRUSSELS SPROUTS

Another standard of the cool-weather crops, ‘Jade Cross’ won the All-America award back in 1959. It grows around 36 inches tall with sprouts lining the stalk all the way up to the top. Harvest from the bottom, going up, when the sprouts are about an inch in diameter. Especially noted for its flavor, this variety sweetens even more after going through a frost or two.

 
Cabbage ‘Fast Vantage’

CABBAGE

These are edible Cabbages, although we also like to sell some of them as Ornamentals. ‘Fast Vantage’ is the classic heading Cabbage, with a thick, heavy ball at the center of a large crown of leaves. This is a mild and sweet Cabbage with no bitterness. It is also multi-purpose, good for fresh cooking, slaws and salads, frozen meals, and sauerkraut. This Cabbage also handles the cold easily. We’ve seen it harvested from the garden in December or January, depending on how suffocating the snow was that year.

‘Chinese Blue’ (pictured at the top of the article) is also known as a Napa Cabbage and is often used in stir-fries, soups, and salads. It’s noted for having particularly crispy leaves with fun textures. This is also a variety that doesn’t mind starting in the summer and finishing in the fall. 

A Cabbage with personality, ‘Red Jewel’ forms a larger, garnet-colored head with a short core. This is a dense Cabbage with very large dusky-colored outer leaves. If you want big Cabbages, use this variety.

 
Lettuce ‘Buttercrunch’

LETTUCE

‘Buttercrunch’ is a salad classic, very quick to grow and very easy to plant. Harvesting a few outer leaves from several plants means you can have fresh salad greens throughout the fall. For such a tender leaf it is also reasonably heat-tolerant so it does well in the fall garden. This variety grows fast so you get quick results—ideal for the beginning gardener.

We also like to include Mesclun Mix because it is the best of all the Lettuce mixes we’ve tried. It is widely recognized in the general public for good reason. We like baby-leaf salads, and this is the one to have.

 
Beet ‘Fresh Start’

BEETS

As children, we didn’t like Beets; as adults, we think differently. Freshness has a big impact on the flavor and desirability of Beets, and we think ‘Bull’s Blood’ is one of the tastiest. We also like the look of the classic pink rings inside the Beet root, with burgundy leaves that can be used in salads when picked while they’re young. It’s an heirloom, and we offer it in both the 4.5-inch and 6-inch pots.

Beet greens make a surprisingly good addition to a salad and ‘Fresh Start’, sold in a 6-inch pot, is grown specifically for the leaves. It forms no significant Beet root. This variety has the best Beet tingle of all the Beet leaves we’ve tried in our salads.

 
Swiss Chard ‘Bright Lights’

SWISS CHARD

A cultivar that has taken the vegetable folks by storm, Bright Lights Mix (6-inch and 8-inch pot) has both good looks and good taste. It was part of the leading edge of breeding that established Edible Ornamentals as a real thing.

NEED MORE?

Please visit the Availability section of our web site for the complete selection of Fall Vegetables currently shipping.

Beet ‘Bull’s Blood’