Silverbeet

Silverbeet (Beta vulgaris) is an easy to grow leaf vegetable.  Silverbeet is also called chard, swiss chard, rainbow chard, leaf beet, perpetual spinach, and beet spinach.   

When I was a child (and in some parts of Australia today) this vegetable was mostly called 'spinach'.  Silver beet is not closely related to true spinach (Spinacia oleracea).  They are used in similar ways, but they are very different plants, they grow, taste, and look different. 

Coloured silverbeet mix

Like many leaf vegetables, silverbeet is reasonably nutritious.  It is particularly high in vitamin K.  Ten grams of raw silverbeet leaf contains the recommended daily intake of vitamin K.  

Like many vegetables, silverbeet contains some anti-nutrients, in this case it is oxalic acid.  It is not overly high in oxalic acid, and it is usually eaten cooked (heat somewhat degrades oxalic acid), so this is not a big issue.  Some people eat raw leaves in salads, given the relatively low amount of oxalic acid present in the leaves and the small amount of leaves generally eaten, this isn't an issue for most people. 

Much genetic diversity among my silverbeet

Many years ago we bought a pack of silverbeet seeds.  It was a coloured mix and the seedlings grew various coloured petioles (leaf stems).  I liked the look of the yellow ones.  For some reason the yellow ones were always less vigorous in my garden, but I like the looks of them. 

I allowed them to self seed indiscriminately, and we always had some silverbeet of various colours.  We moved house and I took some seeds with us, then I forgot about them.  A few years later I thought about growing silverbeet again and had plenty of seeds that were about ten years old.  I planted a bunch to see if they would work, figuring I could buy more seed if needed.  

Most of the seeds did nothing as they were too old, but some grew, and we have had silverbeet growing ever since.  

Not a great photo: white stem on left, green stem on right

Each year there are different colours in the garden.  A few years ago most had light green stems, I like the look of them.  

This year there are no yellow ones, but we still have red, a vibrant pink that I cannot capture the colour of in my photos, white, and light green.  The leaf is always green, some dark, others light, and over winter some turn purple/reddish green.  

  

Various stem colours

Silverbeet is often considered to be a biennial, They grow one year and they flower and die in their second year.  Given the right conditions many silverbeet plants probably are biennial.  For me some are annuals, they grow, flower, and die in under a year.  Some are indeed biennial, growing one year, then in their second year they flower and die.  Others are short lived perennials, in my garden they survive 4+ years before flowering.  

Silverbeet is the same genus and same species as beetroot, mangelwurzel, and sugar beet.  All of these plants can and will cross readily, so care needs to be taken if seed saving.  

All of these can be grown side by side without affecting the taste of each other or the colour of neighbouring plants.  Growing them next to one another is only an issue if you are allowing them to flower and are planning on collecting seed. 

Pink stems from same plant - far prettier in real life

Beetroot was selected for its large sweet and tender root, mangelwurzel was selected for larger root and leaf, sugar beet was selected for high sugar content, and silverbeet was selected for leaf production.  I find beetroot goes woody and my chickens won't eat it once it grows large, whereas my hens eat every last scrap of mangelwurzel no matter how large and old it is.  

If seed saving, all of these beets will cross pollinate readily.  The plants produce ample pollen that is spread a long distance by the wind.  

I have crossed beetroot and silverbeet a few times, the result is usually a plant with a tiny bulbous root, and produces fewer, smaller, and slightly sweeter leaves than silverbeet.  I am told that crossing silverbeet with sugar beet results in plants with large and tasty leaves.

Various red and pink silverbeet

Seed saving and breeding of silverbeet can be a little difficult and takes a lot of time and garden space.  As mentioned, individual plants can be annuals while many are perennial or biennial.  This may be influenced by environment as well as genetics.  Stress seems to induce flowering, so if you have a nice perennial plant you may be able to stress it into flowering.  Being wind pollinated means your plants may cross if your neighbours are also growing some of this species.

As you can see in the photos, my Silverbeet has a lot of genetic diversity.  I think this is a good thing and try not to create a genetic bottleneck.  Some years I see more diversity than others, this is because it has some recessive genes as well as genes that are only expressed when in the right combination.  

I have always thought about breeding something spectacular with it, but have never gotten around to it.  I tend to just cull things I dislike and allow the ones I like to flower and drop seed.  There are also some that grow in out of the way places in the garden or lawn, which I often allow to flower and seed.  

I have a few plants that have very wide petioles, these look interesting but we don't use petioles much, and my chickens are reluctant to eat these thicker stems.  I had some plants a few years ago that were twice as wide as this, they were short plants that produced little leaf and had extremely wide white petioles.  I culled them.  I probably won't allow these wide petiole silverbeet to flower.  Then again, I may leave one just to keep the diversity in the mix. 

Thick petiole vs thin petiole

I like the bright yellow ones, but they were not as productive in my garden so are slowly disappearing from my mix.  I don't have any bright yellow ones this year, but they may reappear next year.  As much as I like the looks of them, if they are less productive I won't grow them. 

I don't love the looks of white stemmed ones, I prefer the look of light green.  Presumably white is more vigorous or something as that is the most commonly seen in shops, I just don't love the look of it.  In my garden the light green ones seem pretty vigorous. 

The red ones can be very pretty, and my red ones may have some beetroot genes in their heritage.  Many of these are very productive and vigorous.  Some of these will be allowed to set seed.

This year there are some vivid pink plants that I cannot really capture in photos.  I plan to allow them to flower and set seed.  I don't have many of the vivid pink, but they seem to produce well.  I hope I get more vivid pink in future generations.  It wouldn't be overly difficult to bag them and collect self pollinated seed, but I have a feeling that I won't get around to doing that this year.  

Silverbeet grows well over winter here, and provides nutritious and large leaves that we eat as well as feeding to our chickens.  Having some greens over winter is good for the hens.  Silverbeet also grows reasonably well over summer, but needs some water to prevent wilting.  

When my current plants set seed I may collect and offer some for sale through my for sale page.  This will be a mix of colours, and it has been open pollinated, so I can't guarantee what colours you will get.  

My plants probably have some beetroot in their heritage, but are not likely to produce fat roots.  Coloured silverbeet is not rare, and is certainly not difficult to grow from seed, so if I don't have seeds you should be able to find seed for sale somewhere.  You could buy seedlings, but for the same price you will get a lot more seed with a lot more interesting colours.  Seedlings tend to sulk after transplant but pick up if cared for, and seeds grow so easily, so either is a good option to grow these.  Once you have them in the garden, it isn't too difficult to allow some to flower and set seed when the time is right and ensure a continual supply of this vegetable.  

Perennial buckwheat vs fishmint

A few years ago, I started growing a perennial vegetable called Vietnamese fish mint (Houttuynia cordata).  This perennial plant is used as a vegetable, or herb, or medicine, or grown as an ornamental, in a host of different countries. 

Fish mint is an extremely productive and vigorous plant, and borders on being indestructible, which is a great trait for a perennial vegetable to have.  Fish mint is productive, it looks pretty, and is incredibly healthy to eat, but I find the smell to be a little overpowering.  

I grew fish mint for years, and wished that there was a version of it that was not so strong smelling.  Some people love the smell of fish mint, however, I find it a bit too much. 

Fish mint on left, buckwheat on right 

Fish mint produces copious amounts of food and tolerates poor growing conditions.  I only grow it in a pot with pavers under it, otherwise I worry it may escape through the drainage holes and get into the garden.  After years of growing it like this I have never had it even come close to escaping into my yard.  

I am told that people grow this as an ornamental in the garden and regret it.  They say that spraying with weed killer removes growth above the soil line, but the plant survives and springs up again from rhizomes.  After it escapes, every time you mow your yard, or walk through your yard, it smells like fish.  

My fish mint produces flowers, and I am told it does not set viable seed.  For the first year or so I removed all of its flowers in case they set seed.  After the first year I just let it flower and hoped for the best.  

Fish mint escaping it's pot

Fish mint growing out of the drainage holes 

Not long after allowing fish mint to flower, I grew common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) from seed.  The cotyledons were rather unique, I had not seen cotyledons like them before, but it was the true leaves that concerned me.  

The true leaves of buckwheat were much the same shape as fish mint.  I worried that my fishmint may have set seed, and I was concerned that it had escaped.  Would my yard smell like fish for ever more?  Oh, the terror.  I honestly felt sick to my stomach with worry that this had gotten away from me.  

I didn't remove the seedlings at this stage, I left them to see if I was wrong and hoped I could get on top of things.  I was hopeful that I had not lost control of the fish mint because the seedlings were only in the one spot I planted buckwheat, and were nowhere near the fish mint.  Once the seedlings grew a little larger, I bruised, smelled, and tasted a leaf.  I was pretty convinced that they were not fish mint seedlings, but I still worried that maybe they didn't get their distinctive smell until older.  

The seedlings grew and rather quickly flowered.  The flowers were buckwheat and looked nothing like fish mint flowers, then it set seed that was clearly buckwheat, confirming that they were absolutely not fish mint.  Phew!  

I have been growing fish mint for years, and have never had it set viable seed.  

After growing fish mint for a few years, and reading about all of its benefits, I started to wish that there was a variety that did not smell so strong.  I considered trying to restore fertility and grow seeds and try to breed something that didn't smell as strong, but I am glad to say that I thought better of it.  I didn't want this spreading by seed through my lawn.  Not setting seed is a good trait for this vigorous plant to have, I don't want this plant to set seed. 

Perennial buckwheat - Fagopyrum cymosum

A few years later I learned of a perennial vegetable called perennial buckwheat (Fagopyrum cymosum complex, also called Fagopyrum dibotrys), this also goes by the common names "Golden Buckwheat" and "Tall Buckwheat".  This perennial vegetable sounds a lot like fish mint, but it has no smell.

Even though these plants are not even distantly related, my wish for fish mint that is not strong smelling has basically come true.  Perennial buckwheat does all the things I wanted fish mint to do (and more), and has none of the down sides.  

While perennial buckwheat and fish mint are not closely related the plants look superficially very similar to one another.  They are both perennial plants that are very vigorous and highly productive.  They both cope with hard frosts, and survive poor soils (they survive poor soil, they are vastly more productive in good soil).  They both spread vigorously by underground rhizomes.  They both have nice looking heart shaped leaves.  They have both been eaten as leaf vegetables and their rhizomes used as folk medicine by people for centuries.  They both have a lot of proven medicinal properties (for people as well as poultry and livestock) that have been reported through many peer reviewed papers.  

Perennial buckwheat plants

In my garden, perennial buckwheat grows much taller than fish mint.  In autumn, perennial buckwheat leaves become a brilliant golden yellow colour, whereas fish mint just grows until getting burnt down by frosts.  The flowers of fish mint are visited by pollinator insects only there is little else flowering, while perennial buckwheat flowers seem to be adored by beneficial pollinators and appear to be one of the preferred sources of nectar and pollen.  Perennial buckwheat leaves are high in rutin, and high in protein.  

I have not read anything about how much fish mint is safe to consume.  I think the smell would stop me eating it long before I ran into trouble.  Perennial buckwheat leaves (much like most common vegetables) have some levels of anti-nutrients, even so peer reviewed papers prove that it is safe to eat perennial buckwheat every day. 

Vietnamese fish mint

If you are into Asian cuisine, you should probably grow fish mint.  It can be used like a vegan fish sauce.  I have plenty of these plants, they are very vigorous.  

If you are into growing food, or concerned about food security, growing perennial buckwheat is a must.  I am not sure why it is so uncommon in Australia, it seems to only be common in developing nations where growing food really counts.  At this stage I am still trialing it under different conditions, and seeing what it can do.  

At some point if I have any spare plants I will list perennial buckwheat plants for sale, along with fish mint, on my perennial vegetables for sale page.

Tokyo Bekana cabbage looks like lettuce

Tokyo Bekana (Brassica rapa) is an interesting leaf vegetable that deserves to be grown more commonly.  It's a highly nutritious cabbage, but it looks like a lettuce.  If you have never tried this, you should grow it and see if it makes its way into your yearly vegetable garden growing rotation.  

I have only been growing Tokyo Bekana for a year or two, and am very impressed with this almost obscure vegetable.  

I think there are a few different varieties of Tokyo bekana around.  The one I grow looks slightly different to the varieties they grow overseas.  Mine looks far more like lettuce, which is what I prefer. 

Tokyo bekana leaves 

I find how uncommon this vegetable is to be really baffling.  This quick and easy to grow vegetable is basically unheard of in Australia, yet it is super simple to grow, tastes good, is very nutritious, and seed is often available from many seed companies.  While you may have more luck in other areas, I have never seen Tokyo bekana for sale in fresh food markets.  

Like many vegetables, it has a few different common names.  I have seen it called 'vitamin green' due to its high vitamin content.  I have seen it called 'space cabbage' as it has successfully been grown in the space station as a trial vegetable (it had issues with high levels of CO2).  Tokyo bekana seems to be the most commonly used name for this vegetable, so that is what I call it.  

Tokyo Bekana

Toykyo Bekana is an Asian cabbage (Brassica rapa).  I like many of the Asian cabbages, and Tokyo Bekana is one of my faviourites.  It looks like lettuce but is far more nutritious, it never goes bitter, and it grows incredibly fast.  

I have read that Chinese cabbages were first introduced to Japan in the very early 1900's by soldiers returning home after the Russo-Japanese war.  These cabbages were selected for desirable characteristics, and crossed, and selected some more, until Tokyo bekana was developed and stabilised.  I am told it is still widely grown in and around Tokyo.  

Self-seeded plant

This year I didn't get around to planting seeds of many winter greens.  What you see in these photos are mostly the results of things I let drop seed over summer, and have popped up by themselves.  I did deliberately plant some seed, but not enough.  

I am glad that Tokyo bekana self seeded.  I have been picking them for many weeks and I expect to be able to keep harvesting until it is time to dig them in and plant my summer vegetables.

Self seeded winter vegetables

I dislike many of the European cabbages (Brassica oleracea).  I like some more than others.  While there are exceptions, I usually find their taste and smell to be displeasing.  I find them simple yet slow to grow, and their fresh leaves seem to irritate my eyes.  

Perhaps I am imagining that part about them irritating my eyes, or maybe it is a real thing, I don't know for sure.  It seems as though every time I handle cabbages my eyes are irritated.  The leaves have a bloom of fine powder that I think is irritating my eyes, then again perhaps this is a placebo effect and I am imagining it.  

There are a lot of different types of European cabbages, but that is a long and (incredibly interesting) story for another time.

Tokyo bekana is an Asian cabbage.  Asian cabbages (Brassica rapa, and a few other species) are a different species, and I tend to like them a lot more.  There are a few Asian cabbages that I dislike, and there are many types that I do like.  I usually find their taste more agreeable, many grow almost unbelievably fast, and they don't seem to irritate my eyes (although this last point may be imagined).  

There are also vast numbers of different types of Asian cabbages.  The story of Asian cabbages is incredibly interesting - that's right Jarvis, or Jeremy, or Travis, or whatever your name is, the cabbage story is super interesting!   

To me the Tokyo bekana plants looks a lot like lettuce.  They are an attractive bright green, the leaves are slightly crinkled, and they have a soft crunchy white mid rib.  

All parts are tender and edible.  They are picked and eaten at any stage from micro greens, to baby leaf, all the way to impressively large plants.  The leaves never get tough or fibrous, and they don't get bitter or spicy.  

It looks so much like lettuce

You can eat it raw like lettuce (yes, I know you can cook lettuce) and it goes well in things like garden salads and Caesar salad.  When raw it makes a decent lettuce substitute, tastes vaguely similar, yet is far more nutritious and easier for me to grow.  

You can stir fry it or use it in any way you would use Bok Choy.  It tastes different to bok choy, but still very good.  When stir fried it tastes nice, it goes well with pretty much everything, and when cooked it reduces in size considerably.  It goes reasonably well in shchi (Щи) but lacks volume once cooked.  While I haven't tried this I'm told it can also be fermented and made into sauerkraut or kimchi and things like that.  

Tokyo bekana lasts a few days in the fridge so is probably best harvested as needed, one leaf at a time.  You can cut the entire plant to harvest, but you get a far larger crop over a longer time period by just taking leaves as needed.  Picking as needed eliminates any worry with storage.  

I didn't thin them, and they are very productive

Tokyo bekana grows very fast.  Last year I recorded the number of days from planting seed until harvest, it took just over a month from planting the seed until harvesting baby leaf, and a little under two months until I was harvesting large plants.  Most 'days to harvest' are recorded from transplanting seedlings of undefined age, I recorded days from planting the seeds until harvest as that is far more useful for me to know.  

For me they grew through winter with no significant issues.  It copes well with frosts and cold weather.  

Once the weather heated up they went to seed.  I allowed it to drop some seed in the garden, where it did not grow over summer.  Once the weather cooled the volunteer seedlings started to pop up.  

Bok choy and Tokyo bekana from same age plants

I think Tokyo bekana can grow well over summer if given enough water, when allowed to self seed it waited for autumn to germinate.  

I am told that this is a biennial, and under the right conditions it possibly is, for me it grows as an annual.  For me, most of the Asian cabbages are annuals, and most of the European cabbages are biennials.  I prefer annuals to biennials as seed saving is easier/faster when dealing with annuals. 

As Tokyo bekana is the same species as bok choy (and a lot of other Asian cabbages) they can and do cross readily, so care needs to be taken with seed saving.  

I did a control cross of Tokyo bekana and bok choy out of curiosity.  The cross was far larger than the bok choy parent.  I might save that topic for another blog post rather than making this one too long.  

Bok choy on left, cross in middle, Tokyo bekana on right

Tokyo bekana looks like lettuce

When Tokyo bekana experienced a lot of frosts (down to about -8C) I found some of the outer leaves got a little damage.  It got small discoloured circles on some outer leaves, these were not a big problem.  They could be ignored and just eaten, or I could cut out those parts, or the leaf could just be fed to the chickens and I could pick the next leaf as it was protected and showed no signs of trouble.  

Being a brassica, they are eaten by caterpillars of cabbage white butterflies.  This plant does not seem to be their favourite host and I rarely found any caterpillars or much damage on the leaves.  I never spray with anything, so cabbage white butterflies can sometimes be an issue here.  Given how little damage was done to Tokyo bekana, the cabbage white butterflies were not a big problem an nothing to really worry about in my garden.  They may prove to be a bigger issue in other gardens, or when this plant is grown over summer.  

My plants have not had any issues from slugs and snails, but they look like they type of plants that snails would love.  This is probably worth keeping an eye on as they look like the kind of plant that snails would enjoy.

  

More Tokyo benaka

Our chickens love to eat Tokyo bekana, so any leaves that are damaged are fed to chickens who convert them into eggs.  Being high in vitamins, Tokyo bekana is good to use to supplement the chicken feed.  I can't imagine it is high enough in energy, so I wouldn't try to replace a high percentage of their feed with it. 

I don't tend to feed much of any brassica to our guinea pigs, the few small leaves I have given them were quickly eaten.  I dare say that many other leaf eating animals would enjoy eating these too.

These leaves are tender even when they grow very large.  I mostly feed excess vegetables to the chickens, but sometimes add a leaf to the compost where it disappears quickly, or put a leaf in the worm farm where it is eaten fast, or dig in to the soil as green manure before planting the next crop.  I image these leaves consist of a large percentage of water, and they contain a lot of minerals, so it stands to reason that they would break down fast.  

I think there are a few varieties of Tokyo bekana, the one I have is not named but grows true to type and performs very well.  I don't have any seed for sale at the moment, but may isolate and save seed from my best plants later in the season.  If I have spare seed I will try to list it on my for sale page.  

Seed for Tokyo bekana is readily available through many online seed sellers, so if I do not have any listed for sale it is worth tracking down somewhere else.  I wouldn't bother buying seedlings of you see them for sale as these grow very fast, and a packet of seed is generally cheaper and it gives you a lot more plants than a punnet of seedlings.

How to Grow Watercress the Easy Way

I have been growing watercress (Nasturtium officinale) for a little over ten years, I wrote a blog post on it in 2014.  It is a simple plant to grow, and people seem to rave about watercress, yet for some reason people are told it is difficult to grow.  I am happy to say this is not the case, and watercress can be grown and be productive in very little space. 

Some people assume there is some connection between watercress and nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus).  Even though the Genus of one and the common name of the other are the same, the two are not closely related in any way.  Garden nasturtium is native to Peru, while watercress is native to Eurasia.  Apparently the garden nasturtium got its common name because it produces an oil that is meant to be similar to watercress.  

Occasionally people contact me to ask about growing water cress, so I thought I would write another post explaining how I grow it.  This may not be the best way to grow it, but it is simple and very cheap.  It is really simple to grow watercress.  

Watercress is one of those vegetables which really needs to be eaten soon after harvest.  I never see it for sale in markets, but have been told some places sell it and it will last a day or two in the fridge.  For this reason, if you want to eat it you really should grow it yourself.  

I am told that watercress is a perennial vegetable.  It self seeds so readily for me that even after all these years of growing it I am not yet sure if it is perennial, or if it is an annual and there are always new self seeded plants.  It doesn't really matter if it is perennial or not, once you plant it you can always have some growing if you look after it.  

Watercress

When I tried to look up how other people grow watercress, I found many pictures of people who had sprouted the seeds in an egg shell with a pair of scissors in hand, or people who had ponds or elaborate hydroponic set ups.  This is of no use to someone who wants to grow enough in their backyard to eat (not just an egg shell's worth of sprouts) and/or who lacks a pond or aquaponics set up.  Luckily, watercress really is simple to grow.  

I have grown watercress in several climates, and have found watercress really simple and forgiving.  I tend not to eat it much because I am not overly fond of the taste, so I don't usually grow much of it.  The way I grow it, however, is cheap, and easy, and could easily be ramped up to produce a lot more of it if you were really fond of the taste.  

The first thing to know about watercress, is that it needs soil to survive, not just water.  Like basically any plant you can grow it hydroponically, or using aquaponics, but you can't grow it in a glass of water and expect good results.

The second thing you need to know is watercress needs sunlight (or a grow light).  It will not grow in water without sunlight.  

Watercress needs water, and can grow as an emergent plant with the roots submerged and the leaves in the air, but it copes surprisingly well in soil that is not particularly wet.  Sometimes the seeds fall and plants grow in the lawn among the grasses and weeds.  Not a problem, it doesn't tend to become a weed as it will die in the lawn over summer when it gets too dry for grass to perform well.  As an added bonus, if I ever had a large enough patch of this spring up by itself I can always pull it out and feed it to my chickens.  

Watercress - note the many roots on the stem

Watercress seems to grow better in cooler weather, but does not love frost and thick ice.  It seems to survive being frozen here, but also seems to get a little damaged by frosts.  If I move it under a tree where it in in a frost shadow the water freezes but there is no frost on the leaves and it seems to do fine.

It suffers a little in the heat of summer unless it is given some shade.  Giving some shade in summer also seems to make the leaves grow a little larger.  

The flowers of watercress are similar to any brassica in that they are adored by pollinator insects.  The flowers have a slight fragrance, and are edible.  They smell slightly sweet, and (probably due to all the nectar) taste a little sweet too.  Many people prefer eating the flowers to the leaves. 

Watercress is simple to grow from seed.  The seeds are tiny but simple to germinate, and it takes some time before the plants are large enough to harvest.  Sprinkle some seed on damp soil, keep it watered, make sure it has some sunlight, and it will grow well.  It takes a while for the seedlings to grow, and they are tiny for what feels like a long time, but you end up with a lot of plants. 

Watercress is easier and much faster to grow from cuttings.  Watercress stems grow roots readily when in or near water.  You can cut a stem into short lengths, and either plant them in damp soil, or put the ends in water (with the tops out of the water), and they grow easily.  

There is no trick to this, they don't need a humidity dome, they don't need rooting hormones, often they will all grow.  Sometimes the stems will already have roots before you cut them off.  Once they have some roots, you can just plant them in damp soil and they will grow well.

Watercress seedlings grew in this pot buy themselves

The main issue I have noticed with growing water cress (other than needing to provide water, soil, and light) is cabbage white butterflies.  These will lay eggs on watercress, and the caterpillars will eat out the plants.  I have also had watercress eaten out by water snails, and the plants are sometimes inundated by aphids, but issues with water snails or aphids seem to be intermittent and only strike once or twice per year.  

For me the cabbage white butterflies were the biggest issue.  I am told that cabbage white butterflies are not a big issue, but I found the opposite to be true in my garden for the first few years.  For a while my watercress was growing well only to be eaten to death in a day or two by these caterpillars.  

Then a tiny parasitoid wasp (Pteromalus puparum) appeared in my garden.  This tiny wasp lays eggs into the cabbage white pupa, and eats them out from the inside.  They reduced the numbers of cabbage white butterflies in this area.  While they will never eradicate the cabbage white butterflies, the have lowered the numbers enough for them not to kill off my watercress.  Now the cabbage white butterflies are not a big issue for me.    

You could grow watercress on the side of a pond.  You could grow watercress in hydroponics or aquaponics or even barrelponics.  I am happy to say that you don't need any of this to grow watercress well long term.  It grows well if it is in a pot of soil that is kept moist.  I find it is easier if I grow watercress in soil in something with no drainage.  The bottom of a plastic milk bottle works well.

Watercress, brahmi, and duckpotato

I cut the bottom off a plastic milk bottle, fill it 3/4 with soil, water well, and plant watercress into this.  

As long as the leaves are in the air it grows well, if totallt submerged it will rot and die.  You can plant cuttings which grow faster, or seeds which take longer to reach full size.  

If growing from seed, I make sure that the soil surface is not underwater.  Once the seedlings grow I can fill the milk bottle with water so long as they have some leaves that are not submerged.

The milk bottle in the pictures below was filled with soil and leaf litter that was dug out of the drain in front of our garage.  There is little point buying potting mix, drain soil (or leaf litter cleaned out from the house gutters) is free, and it is full of nutrients.  

Drain soil and leaf litter will have weed seeds, these will germinate, but they won't survive long.  Once the cutting is taller I will fill the container to the top with water, most weeds do not like being under water constantly.  The leaf littler and other stuff in there will break down over time and help feed the watercress over a long time. 

Milk bottle with soil

Watercress cutting with roots

Cutting planted into soil and given water

Once it grows larger I will add more water

It does not take long for the watercress to spread, and for the milk bottle to be brimming with watercress.  I often put azolla and duckweed on the water surface, these act as living mulch and help the tiny ecosystem to be healthier. 

Sometimes I grow watercress in the milk bottle by itself, other times I grow water cress mixed with other water loving things.  Below you can see some brahmi in with the water cress.  There is also a little duck potato in there.  As you can see, the tiny ecosystem is relatively healthy and this milk bottle is productive.

I often just put soil directly into the milk bottle, but you can also put soil in a small pot, and put the pot in the milk bottle.  It doesn't make a lot of difference to how the watercress performs.

Milk bottles don't last forever as they degrade and get brittle in sunlight.  Presumably they are food safe, and if not used for planting things into they would be thrown out.  I have some that have lasted 4 years ad look like they have a few more years left in them, others I have moved often and handled roughly, and they only lasted 2 years.  

These milk bottles were something I already had and were going to be thrown out anyway, so using them to grow watercress, Chinese water chestnuts, and other aquatic edible vegetables is a good thing.   

Growing watercress in a milk bottle

There are a few improved varieties of watercress, but I don't know if any are available in Australia.  All of the varieties I have grown seem much the same and I would not be able to tell them apart if not labelled.  

I once considered breeding an improved variety of watercress, but never got around to starting this breeding project.  This plant is so simple to grow that I don't know if improved varieties are even needed.  I am also not blown away by the taste, so there is little incentive for me to put the effort into improving this already useful and productive vegetable.  

I sell small plants or well rooted cuttings through my for sale page.  I plan to collect seed and also sell seed packets.  You only need one plant to get going, from there you can take cuttings or plant out some seed and expand your patch as much as you want.  

Small Flowered Willow Herb

For a few years I have been growing willowherb (Epilobium parviflorum).  Some of its common names include 'small flowered willow herb', 'hoary willowherb' and 'small flowered hairy willow herb'.   

There are a bunch of different plants that have the common name of willow herb, so it is important to pay attention to the binomial name.  

I believe this is named willowherb because its leaves grow long and slender, like willow.  It also likes to live in damp places, much like willow.  This plant is not remotely related to willow, and (while I am not certain of this) from what I have read it does not produce any aspirin/salicylic acid.  

Small flowered willowherb

Willowherb is edible, it doesn't really have much of a taste on its own, it isn't bitter or unpleasant in any way.  The leaves can be added to a salad and eaten raw, dried and used in herbal teas, and it can be eaten cooked.  Every part is said to be edible, but I have only tried the leaves. 

The texture of the leaves is not remarkable in any way.  They are not unpleasant, or hairy, or slimy.  Certainly not bad in any way, it's also not overly memorable or impressive.  If using raw in  salad I would probably tear or cut the leaves somewhat.  

This herb has been used as medicine to treat prostate and kidney issues, there are a few studies indicating it could be effective in treating these ailments.  

This plant handles frosts well.  It grows tall and flowers over summer, and goes back to a short plant in winter.  Over winter here it does not go completely dormant, but it does die back considerably.  

The heat of summer doesn't seem to be an issue as long as it is well watered. 

Willow herb has small pink flowers

I grow willow herb in a few different ways, it always does well, it does particularly well if given a lot of water and fertile soil.  

I grow some in a pot of soil, and it does fine.  I grow some in a pot with no drainage holes that always has wet boggy soil, it does very well.  I have some in my goldfish barrelponics, and it thrives there.  

Full sun and part shade both work well.  It doesn't like to dry out, and seems to prefer lots of moisture.  That being said, it copes drying out better than I had expected.  For a week my barrelponics pump didn't work and my pot of plants dried out completely.  The Vietnamese coriander and other plants died off quiet badly, while the willowherb looked fine.  

Willowherb in barrelponics 

Growing small flowered willowherb from stem cuttings is simple.  It puts up a tall stem for flowering, cut it into sections, plant each section vertically in moist soil or put the base of each cutting in water and they produce roots quickly.  

Sometimes I plant the cuttings directly into moist soil and I get similar results.  

Small flowered willowherb also divides itself.  Plants slowly produce several growing points.  If I snap one off and plant it in damp soil they usually produce a new plant.  These growing points usually have a few roots if I snap them low enough.  While this is very reliable, it is also a very slow way to propagate them.  I find it a lot faster to take cuttings once they send up a flower stalk.

Goldfish barrelponics - willowherb and Vietnamese corainder

Growing willowherb from seed is surprisingly simple for a perennial herb with such tiny seeds.

The plants send up tall stems in summer, these grow small pink flowers on long stems.  The flowers are at the end of long pods.   

Small pink flowers on tall stems

After the flowers die the seed pods grow longer.  When the stem dries, it splits open and releases dozens of tiny seeds.  Once the pod begins to split, all the seeds are ripe.  

These seeds look like dandelion seeds, except tiny.  Each has a little parachute, and is gladly carried off by the wind. 

To sow seeds I open a dry pod, tip the seeds onto moist soil, water it in, and in a few days every seed germinates.  It is that simple.  

I don't remove their parachute, I don't bury the seeds, I just put them on soil and water them.  

Fresh seed seems to yield close to 100% germination.  They produce tremendous numbers of seeds, so you probably wouldn't need to even plant an entire pod's worth of seed to be more than enough.  I have no idea how long willowherb seed remains viable.  So far I have not had any volunteer seedlings pop up anywhere other than in pots.  

Seed pod opening

Tiny seeds with parachutes

Each pod makes a lot of seed

The seedlings are tiny, and very slow growing.  It seems to take may months before they grow true leaves.  This may be because the soil I am growing them in is low in nutrients or they are not getting enough sunlight, perhaps they would grow a lot faster under better conditions.

So far I have not had issues with slugs or snails, but I think that's just luck.  I am guessing snails would eat out the tiny seedlings before they get established.  Once established they don't seem to have any pest issues.

If you had a damp area in the garden I think these would do very well.  They produce nice looking flowers on tall stalks, the leaves can be long and slender.  Other than making sure they are not too dry, and cutting off flower stalks once per year after they are sent, they take no work to look after.  You would then be able to harvest handfulls of leaves most of the year from a nice looking perennial herb. 

If you are interested in growing willowherb, I sell some plants from time to time and may sell fresh seed next time I collect it.  I can post plants bare rooted throughout much of Australia.  Willowherb will look a but sad after being posted, but it tends to pick up very quickly after being planted and watered. 

Asparagus seed germination

I wrote in an earlier post about saving asparagus seed from my purple asparagus plants.  It was a bit of work, but the result was worth the effort.  

I got a decen number of seed, then got my daughter to count out 100 seeds, I soaked them, then planted them, and recorded the results.  

Planting one hundred seeds makes estimating the germination percentage both easy and reasonably reliable.  I don't like estimating percentage of germination with the number of seed any lower than this if possible, and higher numbers are more work to count.  

Asparagus seedlings - all pretty similar at this stage

I dried the seed.  Then prior to planting I soaked seed overnight.  You don't need to soak asparagus seed, but it makes me feel like I am helping so I sometimes soak it.  I have read mixed things about cold wet stratification of asparagus seed, I have never tried that and it appears that it is not needed in fresh seed.

100 asparagus seeds soaked   
Seeds planted        06/02/2024     Day 0
Germinated           18/02/2024     Day 12
Percent germinated: 98% - the remaining two seeds may still germinate later

Two weeks to germinate isn't bad.  Asparagus seed can take a bit longer to germinate if conditions aren't right, they can also germinate a little faster if they are on a heat mat.  

I grew seeds from a purple asparagus that was open pollinated.  The seedlings all look similar, which indicates there may not be too much genetic variation, and hopefully it has not crossed with a green variety.  

I didn't pay too much attention to the colour of the first spears, and will have to separate these and grow them out to see how many are purple.  Any green ones will have 50% purple genetics, so should still be much sweeter than most green varieties.  Any that have crossed should also display hybrid vigour and be more productive.  It is exciting to see what comes of this lot.  

Asparagus germination test

I wrote earlier that from bought seed I usually get low germination, and I have always thought that was due to the age of the seed.  Given that my fresh seed had such high germination I think this is likely the case.  

Asparagus seedlings divided 

Now I know I can save seed from my purple asparagus.  If many are crossed with green, I can take extra precautions next year to ensure only purple asparagus is able to pollinate my female purple asparagus plants.  

Hopefully this means I will no longer have to buy expensive purple asparagus seed and can grow my own.

Zolotoe serdtse tomato

This year I grew a tomato called Zolotoe serdtse (золотое сердце), this roughly translates to something along the lines of golden heart, or heart of gold.  I am not entirely certain how to spell this in English, Zolotoe or Zolotoye or Zoloto, I have seen all these spellings used in different places. 

This is a semi determinate tomato variety, that produces very early in the season.  It produces shorter plants, perhaps two feet tall, with regular leaf that are slightly rugrose.  The plant itself looks quite weak compared to many other varieties.  Even though the plant looks weak, it is very productive.

Zolotoe serdtse - persimmon coloured fruits

Zolotoe serdtse is an old commercial variety from Russia, apparently it was bred by Agrifirm Ailita/Aelita.  

I grow a few heirloom Russian tomatoes.  I like old Russian varieties, and I like Russian commercial varieties, often they were bred to be useful rather than to look good.  Often Russian varieties tend to produce well under harsh conditions, and they tend to have a lot of flavour.  

I grow everything organically, so need my plants to have a high level of resistance to pests and diseases, the old Russian tomatoes often have high resistance to pests and disease.  

Zolotoye serdtse tomatoes

Unlike some heirlooms, Zolotoe serdtse doesn't crack.  It is a firmer tomato that does not bruise and seems to store for a remarkably long time.  Many tomatoes I grow cannot even be transported to work when ripe without damage as they are so soft, but this one holds well to transport as its flesh is firm and dense, yet it still stays remarkably tender.  I can't really explain this well.

This tomato has lovely uniform colour.  Unlike many heirlooms it does not have green shoulders.  My camera seemed to have a lot of trouble with the colour, most of the pictures looked too yellow.  

When I put a red tomato, an a yellow jar lid in the field of view the colour seemed to be a lot closer to real life, and stayed like this for a few photos.  In real life they look remarkably similar to persimmons. 

Zolotoe serdtse tomatoes

The fruit is remarkably uniform in colour, but not in size or shape.  Most fruits are about the size of a goose egg, but I realise most people would never have seen a goose egg so this comparison is not useful.  

Probably a more useful comparison would be to say the tomatoes are similar is colour and size to a small persimmon.  They weigh about 80-200 grams each, with most being towards the larger end of this scale.  They are quite beautiful, the colour is uniform throughout the entire fruit.  I really love the colour of these.  

The shape is not entirely uniform, most seemed round and a bit flattened.  This stops them rolling off my bench, while still being large enough and round enough that they are good for slicing.  I quite like the size and shape.  

Zolotoe serdtse fruit size

This year many of my tomato varieties did not produce any fruit, or produced very little fruit, but this one was an exception.  For me it was highly productive, the small plants were covered in loads of beautiful large fruit that looks like persimmons.  While I don't grow tomatoes for looks, these are really beautiful.  

Another thing I liked about Zolotoe serdtse is that it is very disease resistant.  I get a bit of late blight that affects tomatoes here, this variety showed no signs of disease.  I am told that they are cold resistant, and can survive light frosts with minimal damage.  I am also told that they can produce fruit under cold cloudy conditions that would prevent fruit set in most tomato varieties.  This is important to me as it means it will produce for me in cooler years.

In poor soils and with irregular watering, much like many larger tomatoes, it does suffer from blossom end rot.  While frustrating, this can be prevented by regular watering and growing in fertile soils.  Normally the top half of the fruit is unaffected, to the damage can be cut off and the top part still eaten.

Uniform colour the entire way through - my photos don't do justice

The fruit can be a little drier or more dense than most of the varieties I grow, making it great for cooking or for paste.  It also means it can be sliced onto sandwiches in the morning and the bread is not too soggy at lunch time.  I prefer tomatoes with a bit more seeds/gel than Zolotoe serdtse has, but after growing this one I can see the benefits of having a slightly drier tomato with fewer seeds.  

I have read the "medium sized orange golden fruits are superb, meaty and fully-flavoured unlike some other yellow tomatoes".  I agree, they are superb, and meaty, and have considerably more flavour than most yellow tomatoes.  I did find them to have a milder flavour than some tomato varieties I grow. 

They certainly have a richer flavour than anything I can get from the markets, and they taste better than a home grown 'roma'.  People often talk about home grown produce tasting better than store bought, then for some inexplicable reason they tend to plant and grow insipid varieties.  While not the most intensely flavoured tomato I grow, Zolotoe serdtse are probably tastier than most home grown tomatoes that people grow.  

Some of the tomatoes I grew this year

I saved seed from these and plan to grow them again.  They taste good, they produced early, they were very productive, and they look incredible.  

Zolotoe serdtse and Tommy Toe tomatoes