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.  

Vietnamese Fish Mint

I have been growing Vietnamese Fish Mint  (Houttuynia cordata) for years, yet for some reason I have never written a blog post on it before now.  

This plant has many common names, including dokudami, 'poison blocking plant',  lizard tail, heartleaf, fishwort, bishop's weed, and it has a heap of other common names too.  I usually just call it 'fish mint'.

Vietnamese Fishmint is a perennial vegetable that not at all related to mint.  It is edible and used as a vegetable or herb, it has a long history of medicinal use, as well as a long history as a remedy for poisoning.  

This is an essential vegetable in Vietnamese cooking, and appears to be eaten extensively in South East Asia.  This is very uncommon in Australia, yet extremely simple to grow and very productive.

Vietnamese fish mint in flower

Fish mint has a strong and rather distinctive smell.  Some people love the taste of fish mint, others not so much.  Some people liken its smell to oranges, others think it smells like fish, to others it smells like the gravel in the bottom of a fish tank.  

Vietnamese Fish Mint tends to be eaten raw, or only lightly cooked/wilted.  It does taste a lot like fish sauce, and can be used to make a vegetarian fish sauce.  When raw it tastes a bit too...I'm not sure how to explain it...perhaps too 'metallic' for my liking.  Once slightly cooked I prefer the taste.  Other people tell me they can't taste any of the metallic taste that I notice, so I guess it differs from person to person.  

Fish mint can be used to make a Vegan Fish Sauce.  Seriously!  How cool is that.  I found a recipe that I shared below, but if you have a better recipe and are willing to share it I would love to learn more.  

It is also used to make a medicinal "dokudami" herbal tea.  I have made this a few times, it tastes nice but I find the smell to be a little too strong for me.  My kids have tried the herbal tea, they like it.  I have made herbal tea using fish mint as well as other herbs such as lemon balm.  This was nicer, but I still found the fish mint to be overpowering.  

The rhizomes are used in a bunch of different herbal remedies, many of which have been proven to be effective.  Unfortunately I don't know how to make these medicines.  Presumably just eating the rhizome is enough to gain some benefit.  I find the rhizomes to be less overpowering than the leaves.  

Vietnamese Fish Mint 

Many animals, including chickens, quail, ducks, guinea pigs, sheep, and pigs gladly eat fish mint.  It has a lot of nutrients and some medicinal benefit.  Interestingly, fish mint has been demonstrated in many peer reviewed papers to protect chickens from bronchitis (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21848486/), as well as treat coccidiosis in chickens and lambs as effectively as commercial coccidiosis medication.  I am tempted to grow this in a hanging pot in the chicken run so the hens can get the benefits of an organic coccidiosis treatment.  

There are several varieties of this plant.  I grow the most vigorous green version with single flowers.  There is a green one with double flowers, and there is also a multicoloured variegated one that looks really pretty and spreads less vigorously.  I am told the green one is not only more vigorous, but also more potent.  My chickens gladly eat the leaves, but I don't give them many, so I am glad I grow the most potent version.  

The leaves of the variety I grow are green, heart shaped, and they look very similar to buckwheat leaves.  The flowers are white and not overly interesting.  Bees and other insects visit the flowers, but never seem overly keen on them.  I am happy to say that the variety I grow never produces viable seed. 

Fish mint on left, buckwheat on right 

Fish mint grows extremely vigorously.  Let me stress, it is extremely vigorous.  One or two pots of this plant will be more than enough for the average household.  I am happy to say mine does not set any viable seed, ever, which makes it much easier to control.  Never grow this in the soil or it will take over your yard, and your neighbour's yards, and every time you walk in the yard or mow it will smell like fish.  Grow it in a pot, but never in the garden bed.  

I grow most of my fish mint in a container, and the container is on pavers.  My main one is in a plastic tub that we drilled holes in, it's not very deep but it is wide to allow the plant to spread, but any plant pot would do.  The rhizomes will try to escape through the drainage holes, but they can't cross the pavers.  

I have been growing this plant for seven or eight years and it has never escaped on me.  I also grow some in pots on wire shelves in my greenhouse, but these are being grown out to sell at markets and through the post.  

Fish mint escaping it's pot

Fish mint does not produce seed, or at least the one I grow has not produced any seed in the time I have grown it.  This is not a problem because it is easily divided to produce more plants.  If it did produce seed I am not sure that I would be willing to grow it because it spreads so vigorously.  

This plant is not related to mint (Mentha sp) and does not taste or smell even vaguely similar to mint.  I believe the word 'mint' in its common name is probably due to the way it spreads aggressively via underground rhizomes like mint.  

As well as being easy to divide, this plant grows readily from cuttings.  Planting cuttings in soil seems to result in 100% strike rate if the soil is kept damp.  I have only tried striking a cutting in water once, this grew well for me but not as fast as the ones planted in soil.  

I have never tried to restore fertility and grow from seed.  I prefer that it does not produce seed as it stops it from escaping into my yard.  I have considered getting the prettier variegated form, but don't know if a second clone would increase the possibility of viable seed, so for that reason have resisted the urge to get the variegated form.

When grown in a pot, some rhizomes will try to escape through the drainage holes.  Any rhizomes that try to escape the drainage holes can be roughly torn off, planted in a pot of damp soil, and will produce more plants.  They grow very quickly from rhizomes and produce large healthy plants very fast.  

Fishmint rhizomes potted up and ready to grow

Fish mint grows well in part shade, and survives in full sun.  It seems to prefer damp areas, but does not need to be waterlogged to grow well.  I have heard it can be grown as an emergent water plant, but haven't grown it like that myself.

Mine gets pretty dry at times over summer, if it looks like it is burning off I give it some water and it bounces back quickly.  I imagine if the soil got too dry for an extended period it would die.  This plant has a strong will to live, and tends to recover easily from all kinds of poor treatment.  

I have seen fish mint growing in floating pots on a pond.  I love the looks of this, and think it would do well in cleaning the pond water when grown like this.  Care would need to be taken that the pot did not get too near the edge and allow the plant to set root into the mud on the bank, as it would be difficult to remove once it became established.  

Fishmint goes mostly dormant over the winters here.  I say 'mostly dormant', because some years all the above ground parts die back, and other years it just looks scraggly and keeps a few leaves here and there.  The underground rhizomes survive very cold temperatures, easily coping with -10C with frozen solid soil, and it grows vigorously once the warmer weather returns.  

I am told that people (often in the US) grow the weaker variegated version of fish mint under trees or near ponds where it looks lovely.  They soon regret this as it takes over the yard, and it smells like fish every time they mow.  This is where my hesitation to grow it in a floating pot on a pond comes from.

Spraying does not kill this plant, herbicides easily kill the above ground parts, and it quickly resprouts from many underground rhizomes.  This is a plant that does not want to die.  I have heard that it can survive under weed mat for years, and pop up once their is a rip in the weed fabric.  

The simple way to deal with this is don't grow it in the garden bed.  Grow it in a pot, and have the pot on pavers.  As I mentioned, mine has never escaped and I have grown it for seven or eight years.  

Vegan Fish Sauce Recipe 

I found a recipe for vegan fish sauce here, it is so simple.

Ingredients: 1 cup packed fish mint leaves; 3 Thai chili peppers; 2 cloves garlic; 1/3 cup sesame oil; 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar 

Instructions: Puree all ingredients in a food processor. Transfer to a bowl and serve.

Other Fish Mint Recipes 

I also found a recipe for Fish mint that uses rhizomes as well as leaves.  It also is very simple.

Ingredients: 1/4 cup shredded young fish mint leaves, 1/4 cup chopped fishmint rhizomes, 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon fried chili crisp or chilli oil, 1 tablespoon chopped coriander cilantro, 1 tablespoon chopped scallions.

Instructions: Combine all the ingredients and toss shredded fishmint leaves and rhizomes. Chill for 10 minutes before serving.

As well as another recipe that includes tofu.

Ingredients: 200 g fish mint stems, broken into 4 cm lengths (or lotus stems), 8 fried tofu cubes, 1 handful of chopped mint leaves, 1/2 cup coriander, roughly sliced, 1/2 cup garlic chives, roughly sliced, 1/2 cup red peppers, finely sliced 

Dressing: 3 tbsp light soy, 2 tbsp black vinegar, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 2 spring onions, sliced, 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes, 3 garlic cloves, diced, 4 cm piece of ginger, finely sliced.

Instructions: To make the dressing, in a bowl, combine the light soy sauce, black vinegar, brown sugar, spring onion, chilli flakes, garlic and ginger. Stir well and set aside for a few minutes to infuse.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the fish mint stems, tofu, mint, coriander, garlic chives and red peppers. Add the dressing and toss to combine. Transfer to a serving platter.

I have only shared a few recipes above.  There seem to be a host of similar recipes around, plus many families have their own family recipes.  If you have a good recipe and are willing to share it let me know and I can add it.  

Vietnamese fish mint

I mentioned earlier that this plant is vigorous, and I find the smell to be overpowering.  Some people adore fish mint, so much so that they will drive an hour each way to pick up a plant from me.  

I don't want to detract from the many benefits of this plant, so please read my opinion of its smell while keeping in mind that different people like different things, and that some people adore fish mint.  Fish mint is also incredibly healthy to eat, both people and animals benefit from eating it, so please don't take my comments to mean that you should not grow and eat this.  

I really can't cope with the smell of fish mint.  It is too strong for me.  Even repotting this can be too much for me at times.  

Other people comment how they adore fish mint, and most people I sell it to rave about it.  I had a few people drive out to buy fish mint plants from me cry tears of joy.  They told me they cried because it is a taste of home, a very dear memory, and they were fearing that they would never be able to eat this again after moving to Australia.  

While I don't think anyone should ever grow this in the garden do to how rampantly it spreads, I think this is well worth growing to see if you like it.  If you like the taste it is increadbly healthy to eat.  I also know that this plant makes a cherished gift to Vietnamese or Chinese friends.  

This plant is very useful for making Vietnamese spring rolls, Pho, and dokudami herbal tea.  People who buy this from me often say that they are thankful that they will never be without it again.

I have been selling organically grown Fish Mint plants for years through my for sale page along with other perennial vegetables I have for sale in Australia.  If you are interested go and have a look.  I either sell small fish mint plants, well rooted cuttings, or dormant rhizomes, depending on the time of year.  If selling rhizomes I tend to include extras, they will all grow once it starts to warm a little.  Over winter they are mostly dormant, and look very shabby, but they grow like mad once the weather warms.  

Perennial buckwheat leaf vegetable Australia

I find myself fascinated with the concept of perennial grains.  While many appear to be inappropriate for large scale cropping, perhaps they could be useful for small scale or backyard production.  Or maybe they are not suited to small scale growing and will never be a decent crop.  I wish one of the permaculture institutes would put some decent effort into researching this.  

I grow a perennial corn, it is unsuited to my climate and frustratingly unproductive here, but I am told it is fast growing and very productive in warmer climates.  I know of a few other perennial grains, some sound promising, but I have no access to germplasm. 

I also grow a perennial buckwheat (Fagopyrum cymosum complex, sometimes called Fagopyrum dibotrys), this also goes by the common names "Golden Buckwheat" or "Tall Buckwheat".  I read that in the Himalayas it is referred to as Kathu (काठू).  I believe this plant is mostly used as a perennial leaf vegetable but it is also said to produce edible seed.  

Perennial buckwheat growing strong

Buckwheat seeds, either Fagopyrum esculentum or Fagopyrum tataricum, are commonly eaten in various dishes.  In various countries the leaves and flowers are also consumed as vegetables.  I have eaten leaves from common buckwheat, they tasted nice enough raw and pretty good when cooked.  When in flower they could be a little bitter raw, before flowering they weren’t bitter.  The bitterness they have when flowering seems to go away after being cooked. 

After some research it appears that leaves of common buckwheat, and tartary buckwheat, are eaten as vegetables, but it is far more common for leaves of perennial buckwheat to be eaten.  Presumably this is due, at least in part, to the rampant spreading of this perennial vegetable.  Perennial vegetables are great as you plant once and harvest forever.  

Golden buckwheat is simple to grow, it seems to prefer full sun, and copes reasonably well with partial shade.  

My plant has divided impressively in the time I have grown it.  Over winter it will die back and be dormant, and it should resume growth in spring.  These grow and divide fast, so I am expecting to have a lot of plants by this time next year.  

Roots developing at a node

Even though perennial buckwheat divides so readily in my climate, I tried to grow one by a cutting.  It worked well.  

I cut the top off one plant, removed the lower leaves, and put the stem in water.  It wilted badly the first day, then regained turgidity, then grew some roots from one of the nodes.  This seems like a good way to increase numbs if I don't want to wait for it to send out underground rhizomes. 

It is cold now and will likely not do a lot of anything above ground until spring.  I am guessing that it should grow roots and perhaps even send out rhizomes, but all of this will happen under ground.  Once the warm weather hits this should cause this plant to spread and grow into many plants.

Now I know I can grow them from stem cuttings if I want to.  This is good to know.  

Perennial buckwheat cutting growing roots

Frost is not an issue for perennial buckwheat as the top part mostly dies back and the underground rhizome is largely dormant while it waits for warmer weather before growing again.  I say 'mostly dormant' because the rhizome does spread a little over winter, but nowhere near as much as when the weather is warmer.

When going dormant in Autumn, the leaves change colour before they fall off, they are really quite pretty.  I didn't think to take photos when the plants were looking their best.  

Perhaps this is why it's called 'golden buckwheat'

I don't know how dry this can survive or how boggy it can survive.  So far I have treated it much like any vegetable and given it some water when the soil is dry, and it has done really well.  Next year when I have more plants to play with I may try to see what it can tolerate.  

I am not sure if it needs frosts and a dormant period to perform at its best.  If I were to guess I would say it would not need a dormant period, and in the subtropics it would actively grow and produce abundant vegetable greens all year.  

Perennial buckwheat

Perennial buckwheat looks similar to fish mint from a distance.  The flowers are very different and can be used to distinguish between them even at a distance.  Perennial buckwheat grows taller than fish mint.  When they are not in flower, I would want to smell them to reliably tell them apart.  

They both grow well and are very productive over the warmer months, and both are dormant over my winter.  

The autumn colours of perennial buckwheat are really impressive.  The leaves go a vibrant golden yellow, and they often have red veins, stems, and edges.  I believe the leaves are still edible by people even at this stage, and the leaves are gladly eaten by our chickens and guinea pigs when green or golden.  

Perennial buckwheat changing colour for autumn

I am told that perennial buckwheat aggressively spreads by underground rhizomes, and that it will take over the garden unless planted in pots.  

I don't think I would be too bothered if perennial buckwheat spread through my lawn because, unlike fish mint, the yard will not smell like fish every time I mow.  

Even so, I am keeping my perennial buckwheat contained for now.  Perhaps in the future I will let this thing out to see what it does.  

Perennial buckwheat - heart shaped leaf

The leaf of common buckwheat reputedly contains 24% protein, I assume that percentage is of dry weight as the fresh leaf would contain a lot of water.  As well as being high in high quality protein and amino acids, buckwheat leaves contain many vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, flavonoids (eg rutin, quercetin, orientin, isoorientin, vitexin, and isovitexin), fatty acids, polysaccharides, iminosugars, dietary fiber, fagopyrins, resistant starch, vitamins, and minerals.  I have read various papers on this that all state the nutrient profile of perennial buckwheat is rather impressive, and other papers that conclude that it may have several medicinal properties.  

Given how nutritious buckwheat leaves are, and how fast it spreads, I am tempted to grow it in the chicken run under some wire so the chickens can eat the leaves without killing the plants.  I have a feeling it may be well suited to producing abundant and nutritious greens for my hens over the warmer months.  I read a paper that stated replacing 10% bought feed with perennial buckwheat leaf in layer diets did not reduce the number of eggs laid.  

My chickens seem to like eating the leaves of perennial buckwheat.  I have also given some leaves to our guinea pigs, who greedily ate every last part of them even though they were on the lawn with free access to grasses and lawn weeds.  I have read about the leaves being fed to pigs, sheep, cattle, and rabbits, all of which gladly ate it. 

I have read that perennial buckwheat is used as silage or hay in some countries.  I would not use this as the only feed for any animal, but using it for a percentage of feed works well.  Perennial buckwheat seems to be one a crop that holds a lot of potential and could be improved with a little breeding effort.  

Perennial buckwheat, much like every other type of buckwheat, is excellent bee forage.  These plants produce a lot of nectar, ample pollen, and the bees and many other beneficial insects seem to adore the flowers.  

Perennial buckwheat in a pot

I have heard varying reports about the ability of F cymosum complex to set seed.  Some sources say it does not set seed, others say it sets abundant seed.  This may be partly due to genetic differences of different clones, or they may need a second clone in order to set seed, or it may also be weather dependent.  When I grow common buckwheat in hot weather I get zero seed set, when grown under cooler conditions I get plenty of seed set, perhaps perennial buckwheat is similar.  

Apparently the seed of perennial buckwheat is extremely high in protein, slightly above 16%.  I read another report that the seed contains 24% protein, but am not certain how reliable that site was.  Presumably there is some reason its seed is not seen for sale as often as common buckwheat or Tartary buckwheat.  Perhaps it is too small or difficult to dehull, perhaps it drops its seed in the field and is difficult to harvest, or perhaps it does not set seed reliably.  

I haven't grown this long enough to see if mine produces seed.  If it can't produce seed, I have a few ideas to try that may restore fertility.  If I can't restore its fertility then I will still grow it as a leaf vegetable, poultry forage, bee/pollinator forage, and ornamental cut flower.  

Potted up after breaking dormancy

Many vegetables contain at least some level of antinutrients, some are deactivated by heat, others less so.  Buckwheat seed appears to contain negligible amounts of a chemical known as fagopyrin, while buckwheat hulls, leaves, stems, and flowers all contain differing amounts of this chemical.  The amount changes depending if the plant is young or if it is flowering.  Eating too much fagopyrin can cause some sensitivity to sunlight.  

I wrote another blog post on buckwheat and fagopyrin, so I won’t cover that information here.  There has been little research into safe levels for human consumption, and seemingly contradictory advice surrounding if it is deactivated by heat.  

Consuming 150 grams of perennial buckwheat leaf raw every single day falls well within the safe limit, given the research into fagopyrin and steamed sprouts it is likely that triple this amount would be safe if cooked.  The data is limited so it may be that considerably more than this is safe.  

Given how many people consume significant amounts of buckwheat daily, and how few reports there are of adverse effects (most of which have been due to consuming sprouts in juiced form), it is likely safe to eat cooked leaves every day with no ill effects.  

I don't have any extra plants at the moment, but will eventually sell these plants through my for sale page.  For now I am building up numbers, and seeing what this plant can and can't do.  I almost find it difficult to believe just how easily this plant produces food for people and animals, yet how uncommonly it is grown outside of developing nations. 

I really like my perennial buckwheat.  This is a perennial vegetable that is seemingly forgotten or unknown outside of developing nations, and it is well suited to growing in backyards.  For reasons I cannot fathom it is very rare in Australia.  It has potential to increase household food security in a number of ways, as well as being very healthy and potentially having medicinal benefits.  If I were a 'prepper' or had to become more self sufficient, this perennial vegetable would be very high on my list of survival vegetables to grow. 

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. 

Woolly micro tomato update

It is time for an update on my micro woolly tomato breeding project.  

For a bit of background, I crossed a micro tomato which only grows to about 10cm tall, with a woolly leaf tomato which reaches about 6 feet tall.  I used a micro tomato as the seed parent so it was simple to see if the cross worked really early. 

I grew the F1 in the year 2021, the F1 plant reached about 5 feet tall, was very productive, and the fruit looked intermediate between both parents.  

Micro woolly tomato breeding

I culled the F2, only keeping the smaller woolly leaf plants.  Then culled subsequent generations based largely on plant size, and to a lesser extent based on fruit colour and taste.  Last year I had a mishap and lost many of my seeds from this project, sadly things like that sometimes happen in breeding projects. 

This summer (2023-2024) I culled and was left with four candidates, I put the four candidates in one pot for ease of handling.  

While it is far better to have them in separate pots, or even in the soil, that was not an option this year.  

Woolly foliage tomatoes

The four remaining plants are between 5cm tall and 15cm tall, they all set flowers at their terminal bud, all are woolly, and all appear to be expressing anthocyanin in their leaves and stems.  

At this stage I don't know what base colour the fruit will be, or how they will taste. 

Unripe woolly tomato 

While several of the plants are larger than Micro Tom (pictured below), up to 15cm tall, or about 6 inches, is still probably considered to be a micro dwarf tomato.  These were partly shaded in the greenhouse and are likely taller than they would have been if grown under direct light.  There are a few generations until they will be stabilised, so even if they are not micro dwarf tomatoes that is ok at this stage.  

The smallest candidate is producing flower buds, and is only around 5cm, or about 2 inches, tall.  This may be a genetically tiny plant, or it may be stunted by growing so close to the pother plants.  I won't know until I grow out its seeds.  

Micro tomato plants are tiny

One of the things I like about micro tomatoes is they are so quick to mature that they can produce several generations each year.  My winters can be a bit long, so I sometimes lose a generation to frosts, but in a mild year I can grow a few generations and make some decent progress.

I was growing these plants in my greenhouse as I didn't start them until late in the season and they needed protection from the heat.  I have recently moved the pot outside into full sun.  Hopefully there is enough heat left in the season for them to set fruit and for me to collect seed.  

Woolly foliage, high anthocyanin 

Even if all goes well, this project is still a few generations away from completion.  Hopefully one or several of these four are what I am hoping for, then I can work on stabilising the lines.  

Fingers crossed in another few years I have a few stable lines of new micro tomatoes that taste good.  If not, I can do a little back crossing to lock in the traits I want, or I could start again.  

Variegated string of pearls tiny cutting

I have been growing string of pearls succulents (Curio rowleyanus also called Senecio rowleyanus) since late 2016 or early 2017.  They are a lovely looking trailing plant with spherical leaves with little windows. 

I wrote an earlier blog post on seeds of fake string of pearls, sadly they don't come in blue or red or purple or with multicolours.  I mentioned in that post how string of pearls com in green, green with larger pearls, or variegated.  

Late in 2023 I got a lovely variegated string of pearls plant.  It was small, and I took a few cuttings.  As well as this, a tiny part broke off.  It had one variegated leaf and a tiny part of stem.  

I planted this to see if it would grow.  Even though it only had one leaf and a tiny section of stem it did start to grow.  

Variegated string of pearls cutting

The single pearl and tiny piece of stem grew some leaves.  At the start none of them had any chlorophyll.  They were all white.  

There was a high chance that the tissue that gave rise to the baby plant was derived of all white, and may not have had any green.  If this was the case it would survive off the mother leaf for a time, and die when the leaf got too old.  They need some green to be able to produce food.  

After growing a number of leaves, it then produced a variegated leaf!  

This variegated leaf has some green, which means it is able to photosynthesize and feed the plant.  As it has produced one variegated leaf, there is a high chance that it will produce more.  If this is the case, in time this tiny plant should be able to grow into a large trailing variegated plant.  

Variegated mother plant

Sometimes variegated plants revert to all green.  Once they are all green, they don't become variegated again.  

If you grow a variegated string of pears succulent and notice a strand that is entirely green, remove it.  Being all green will be more vigorous than the variegated parts.  Plant the green strand in a different pot as a cutting and let it develop into a green plant - don't leave it attached to the mother plant or it will eventually take over and you will no longer have a variegated string of pearls plant.  

If you notice a strand that is all white, feel free to just leave it.  It will eventually die, until then it will look pretty.  Unless the mother plant is very weak it should be able to have a white strand without ill effects.  

Each leaf has some white and some green

I find string of pearls succulents to be surprisingly easy to grow.  They don't love full sun, and can't survive in heavy shade.  The variegated form is less vigorous than the green form, but they are both lovely.  

Even though they are a succulent, they tend to perform better when given decent amounts of water.  I keep hearing about people planting them in special succulent mixes, while this is probably best for them I find they perform well in equal amounts of potting mix and garden soil.

I sell string of pearls plants and cuttings through my for sale page.  At this stage I only have green ones for sale, I hope to have a few variegated ones large enough to sell in Spring.  If you are interested, you should have a look.