Chillybean said: I guess I am really eager for people to get my seeds.

I totally know what you mean. Not sure whether it is more fun to give, or to receive.

I keep checking the "sold" list to renew that warm feeling.


But they don't like my favorite babies! Hardly anyone wanted Bok Choy! (I tell myself that they probably already have as much of their favorite Bok Choy varieties as they have room for. That must be the reason.)



>> catching what others dib and then maybe get it yourself.

In swaps with active chat threads, one person asking a question about some recent "oink" could trigger a cascade of requests for it. I think that we must think: "If SO-and-so wants it, it must be REALLY good!"

Weedwhacker said:and... that boy has been in therapy ever since? or has been trying to duplicate the results by hitting power poles with sticks ever since?

geez, Rick -- talk about leaving us hanging!

Well, there has been a groundswell of trying to get more reliable and secure software into our power grid!

I never thought past his trying to tell his parents "It wasn't my FAULT!!"

They probably told him it happened because he never listened to their advice about "whatever", and, yes, that made some future therapist very happy and put HIS kids through college.


>> or has been trying to duplicate the results by hitting power poles with sticks ever since?

The scientific method would be to repeat the test ... if you dare!

I still have some seed of your bok choi seeds from the piggy swap . They were good but I have a limited space in the garden for each type of veggi.
I planted too close so the very young that had to be thinned out went into a fresh salad and were good . I will probability plant to thick again

and once again we have managed to stray from the topic...

(not you, Cinda -- we cross posted!)

RickCorey said:

I totally know what you mean. Not sure whether it is more fun to give, or to receive.

I keep checking the "sold" list to renew that warm feeling.

The only real disappointment with this swap is the lack of interest in my seeds. I was really looking to give away a lot, but so far, not much has gone.

It's a classy list of flowers!

RickCorey said:

I totally know what you mean. Not sure whether it is more fun to give, or to receive.

I keep checking the "sold" list to renew that warm feeling.


But they don't like my favorite babies! Hardly anyone wanted Bok Choy! (I tell myself that they probably already have as much of their favorite Bok Choy varieties as they have room for. That must be the reason.)

I am not sure I've ever eaten Bok Choy. What is it served with? If I can attempt making chicken with all kinds of Indian spices, maybe I can try Bok Choy.

RickCorey said:

In swaps with active chat threads, one person asking a question about some recent "oink" could trigger a cascade of requests for it. I think that we must think: "If SO-and-so wants it, it must be REALLY good!"

I know... I started considering the Kellog's Breakfast tomato Trish was offering, with all the talk about it. But do I really need another tomato? Besides the swap, there's some I am considering buying from Baker's Creek. I hope they have the teeny tomatoes (Sweet Pea Currants) again. Even if it's just for the laughter it causes. Some friends came over to bird on my property when they saw these plants and asked if they were currants. I said, "No, tomatoes". "Really? " To make a friend laugh like that felt so good. And it is fun eating tomatoes by the handful. And if I get more, I am going to save some seed!

Horntoad said:The only real disappointment with this swap is the lack of interest in my seeds. I was really looking to give away a lot, but so far, not much has gone.

I know that personally, I haven't even hardly begun looking through the lists for items I want. Trish will be dibbing on my behalf so when you see dibs from her, it's from me, too. We have at least 30 tickets left and I know that I'll be hitting your list fairly heavily, Jay. There are several hibiscuses that I want very much.

Chillybean said:
I am not sure I've ever eaten Bok Choy. What is it served with? If I can attempt making chicken with all kinds of Indian spices, maybe I can try Bok Choy.
...

>> What is it served with?

Honestly, given stir-fry recipes: everything. I forget whether this is a North China insult for South Chinese, or vice-versa:

"THEY eat anything with legs except the table, and anything with wings except airplanes".

The white stems are bland but quite sweet. I crunch them raw like candy. But you can chop them into pinkie-sized strips and stir fry, steam, or boil briefly. "Warm" is all they need.

My mother was suspicious of this fancy-pants new vegetable, but liked stir-fry so much in restaurants that she HAD to try it. "Suspicious" translated into boiling it until it almost dissolved, and that was not a way to bring out it's best!

Or put out strips of cold raw stems along with carrots and celery, with some kind of dip, as appetizers. I would tell guests that it was like celery, except that it tastes good.

The leaves are classic greens: boil them with anything, or when younger just steam them lightly, or when very young, they are great in salad raw. Now that baby leaves are popular and have the sexy new name "micro-greens", sowing thickly and cutting several times with a scissor or knife is a fashionable "thing" instead of just something smart gardeners do.

I would say Bok Choy has a fairly strong "green" flavor and not much if any "mustard" flavor. For that "spicy mustard", go for Mizuna or real mustard greens.

The leaves can replace spinach or collard greens in recipes, but the flavor is different.

For NO mustard flavor in VERY mild-flavored greens, consider Tyfon (Holland Greens). They were bred for a fodder crop that would not sour cow's milk. But the young leaves are tender and the plants are VERY cold-hardy and VERY productive.

For very mild salad greens, consider tatsoi. It doesn't grow very fast, but it's quite cold hardy.

Chinese cabbage is harder to grow and get heads from, but can also be good in salad when young, especially Michihli. Napa Chinese cabbage is more like Western cabbage, but more tender and sweeter.

uh oh -- now you've got me thinking, kind of reminds me of last year... and I'm trying SO hard not to go overboard this year, but

Is there a microbadge for "Enabler"?

There SHOULD be one!

Horntoad said:

The only real disappointment with this swap is the lack of interest in my seeds. I was really looking to give away a lot, but so far, not much has gone.

Today, I noticed my "sold" number the same as the last time I looked last night. And this is OK! I am not feeling bummed like I did early on, once I thought through this.

There is such a variety of seeds in the swap; and of people with different interests in gardening. I would rather see few "sold", rather than people just dib seeds that will only end up in a box somewhere never planted.

I will make use of what doesn't get dibbed. Planting some native seeds are easier than veggies. (Not talking about soil prep that should happen first.) Go outside and fling! If any are left, there are two of my seed varieties that I will put into pots as I want these around the yard. And the rest get thrown into different portions of the pasture, depending on their moisture needs.

Now saying all this, please do not think I have changed my mind on sharing. NO! I just came up with what I will do if no one wants them.

And there will be future swaps to participate in, too.

RickCorey said:

Honestly, given stir-fry recipes: everything. I forget whether this is a North China insult for South Chinese, or vice-versa:

"THEY eat anything with legs except the table, and anything with wings except airplanes".

The white stems are bland but quite sweet. I crunch them raw like candy. But you can chop them into pinkie-sized strips and stir fry, steam, or boil briefly. "Warm" is all they need.

My mother was suspicious of this fancy-pants new vegetable, but liked stir-fry so much in restaurants that she HAD to try it. "Suspicious" translated into boiling it until it almost dissolved, and that was not a way to bring out it's best!

Or put out strips of cold raw stems along with carrots and celery, with some kind of dip, as appetizers. I would tell guests that it was like celery, except that it tastes good.

I appreciate you taking the time to type all this and what the varieties are like. I have only tried stir fry a handful of times, still don't have the knack as I over cook everything. Raw sounds tasty; this last summer I was serving a lot more greens, trying to enjoy the freely growing plants we have around the yard.

I was just looking on this feature and noticed that it shows which items I have starred and/or dibbed. How great, I can see if someone is dibbing on my starred items.

I still have lots of bok choi seeds from you from the piggy swap, Rick and more new seed! because my plants always bolt right away! I haven't figured out when and how to start bok choi to get veggies instead of bolting to seeds!

I love all the greens including the mustards. I grow them and leave a few plants to go to seed. I am even trying to grow mixed lettuce greens inside in a window box. They need a bit extra light, but so far so good.

I want to grow mustard seed to make my own gourmet mustards! I started a couple of plants this year, but I have to start them earlier inside to get more seeds! I cheated and supplemented the seeds with purchased ground mustard powder but like my jar of part garden mustard.

The only veggies I grow well are the leafy ones. I need more experience (and an earlier spring instead of crazy polar vortex snowy Easters) in growing other veggies. This is the first home that had room for both my flowers and a veggie patch!

>> my plants always bolt right away! I haven't figured out when and how to start bok choi to get veggies instead of bolting to seeds!

Bummer! Unless you want to grow microgreens. Then vast quantities of seeds are good to have for the next sowing, even if they have more than one pollen parent.

Consider that they like uniform moisture, on the moist side rather than the dry side. And they like cool or cold weather. many varieties are pretty frost-tolerant!

A cold-tolerant bok choy ought to grow long enough to eat before bolting even direct-sown before the first frost. Maybe besides sowing a test row a few weeks earlier, and again a few weeks later, and trying a fall crop, you could try different varieties.

If what you have now is heat-tolerant, try a cold-tolerant variety. And vice-versa.

If you have a short or unsettled spring, and it's tricky getting a crop in between frosts and summer heat, try an early variety, or a dwarf variety that matures quickly, or expect to harvest a standard variety well before maturity.

Sowing thickly, then frequent "cut-and-come-again" cycles might defeat the bolting urge for a while, and produce very tender young leaves. They are more tender and sweet before maturity, anyway.

(I didn't push to grow early because my spring stays WET longer than it stays cold. And my summer is so mild that I can grow cool-weather crops into most of the summer.)

I guess they all give up in hot summers. Even "heat tolerant" Brassica greens are still cool-weather crops and cold-weather crops - just some varieties are RELATIVELY heat-tolerant for their genus.

So it's possible for Bok Choy to be PNW-heat-tolerant, but not Texas-heat-tolerant.

If you want greens guaranteed not to complain about cold, try tatsoi!

However, if you're trying to start growing Asian greens with Chinese cabbage in the narrower sense of "Napa cabbage" or "Michihli cabbage", I think others have observed that they are fussy about start times, temperatures and dayength. Having them bolt quickly might not be as surprising.

Not particularly cold-tolerant OR heat-tolerant, eager to bolt, AND day-length-sensitive. I bet Napa and Michihli do take some experimentation in every different micro-climate. Probably it's easier to meet their demands in the fall rather than the spring. And always be ready to harvest them as baby leaves or young salad if they threaten to bolt.

Spring crops of Chinese cabbage (Napa & Michihli) might demand transplants depending on the daylength, duration and settled-ness of your spring. I haven't gotten into that yet.