Well the title (thanks Beyonce) says it all. I toiled, I sowed, I watered, I loved and I watched over, but... I didn't label.
And I really have no idea what this is. Do you? Rainbow something perhaps? Spinachy, silverbeety, chardy (what is chard?), leafy stuff?
What do I do with it stuff?
Do you know what to do with it stuff?
Stuffing stuff?
Edited To Add
I just found a post/photo of them when they were babies: http://mudpiehomer.blogspot.com/2011/04/rowing-with-vegetables.html
Does that help?
30 comments:
I am also guilty of not labelling locations of things I have planted. Somewhere deep in my subconscious I am almost certain that by tagging things I am actually setting in their tombstones. ¨Here Lies Tomato¨, by not tagging I guess I am forcing everything to stand up and be identified. Of course, I am next to useless at identifying plants!!!!
Daffodil, that is easily one of the funniest things I have ever read... little veggie headstones, I love it.
maybe a spinachy thing?
Dunno what this stuff is.
It looks like a sorrell lettuce but then again it looks like an asian green. I would eat the young leaves as salad and toss the larger ones in stir fry.
If it's possibly Rainbow Chard then that's what it looks like at this stage. Have you tasted it? If it's Chard it should taste like Silverbeet - they are close relatives. Don't know why 'Chard', doesn't mean anything except there's a cold-water fish in the northern hemisphere called a 'Chard'; can't see the resemblance ;-)
Ali - you *eat* it!! Smaller leaves are super in a salad, larger leaves and the stems (always include the stems) are divine when steamed or stir-fried. Make it into Spanakopita with Feta cheese. Break the stems off the plant low down, don't cut it, the plant seems to recover quicker if you break off the stems. The younger the more tender; if you leave it to become huge like the krud they sell in the shops, it will be tough and strong-tasting. Pick young, steam very gently or eat raw .... mmmmm!
I'm worries that I'm going to be the end of us all... I know that rhubarb leaves are poisonous (but it's definitely not rhubarb), this couldn't be poisonous? The leaves are kind of hairy, I put one in my mouth and it wasn't really a nice texture iykwim?
Tanya, it could be an asian green... I don't think it could be sorrel, I have some seeds but the pack is unopened.
Elaine, how about rainbow silverbeet? I haven't tried any of the really small leaves - I have been trying the larger ones... I'll give a little one a go.
Hazel, I wish you lived around the corner... I'd tuck you up with a hot water bottle after your awful day today. And JH - maybe!
Chard isnt hairy, there are hairs on those leaves....its not rainbow spinch, chard etc...it looks sort of like chicory that I have planted, but I would go with the asian green...
Looks like rainbow silverbeet to me. I think chard and silverbeet are the same thing - just that in Australia we call it silverbeet and elsewhere they call it chard.
Well, I just found these photos of when they were babies http://mudpiehomer.blogspot.com/2011/04/rowing-with-vegetables.html
So they are a brassica... does that help?
chard has a smooth to scalloped edge and is glossy dark green, so can't be chard. What seed packets do you have that it could be?
Its kind of Russian Kaley but the leaves are too long and not divided enough. I dont know about the little hairs - radishes without the bulb? Radish leaves are hairy!...
Gosh Ali! What a conundrum!
I never label things either. I like Daff's idea!
The baby plants look like Brassicas (the Mustard family eg Cabbage, Rocket, Oriental greens). The two-lobed cotyledons don't look like Chard/Silverbeet but like little Radishes, Cabbages ... red-legged Cabbage? :-O More like Radish, they are hairy where the others mentioned are not ... did you plant Radish seeds? Meantime, taste the leaves, could be a bit peppery (like Rocket), scratch around the base of the plant and see if the tap root is a bit fatter than you'd expect.
Even if you can't or don't want to put in plant labels, grab yourself a note book and pencil and note down what you planted when and where. Or just do the 'mystery garden' thing and await pleasant surprises!
I was thinking horseradish, and the leaves are not dissimilar, but the red stems kinda rule that out.
What about kohlrabi? Did you plant Purple Vienna kohlrabi by any chance?
Fry it up in a pan with olive oil, garlic and salt - everything tastes good that way!
My guess is radish.
I'm going with radish too. Check out the pic of Hong Vit Leaf Radish at
http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/pages/altsal_mizuna_mustard.htm
Now Ali, I've fessed up to failing to label my seedlings properly myself... but what happened to the seed packet?
p.s. Chard, or in full Swiss Chard, is another name for silver beat. I have never heard of a chard fish!
I agree with Elaine - definately a Brassica - not spinach or a chard of any kind. I'd say not rocket - leaves are the wrong shape and hairy. I'd go a mustard of some kind, or a radish of some kind, or kohlrabi, or a chinese cabbage. The question is whether to thin them out to let them form a head or a bulb, or whether to chop the leaves off and saute with garlic....hmmm
They do look a bit like radishes to me. Maybe give them a week or so and pull one up to see if they are. Radishes don't usually take very long to form.
I love surprises.
I know!! Dixiebelle just did a post with a picture of swedes. That's what they are! Turnips or swedes!
Hi Ali,
I'm with Elaine, Linda and Missy - It's absolutely a Brassica. You can tell by the cotyledon (the first two leaves that appear on the shoot), all plants in the Brassicaceae family start out like that. My money is on Kohlrabi! Although I was torn between that and Swede/Turnip/Radish. The reason I went Kohlrabi over the others was because Swede and Turnip tend to have stems that radiate outwards, whereas these are very much upright. If you look at the stem and the leaf axils (where the leaves come off the stem) they really wrap around like Kohlrabi. As far as radishes are concerned, in your climate I would have thought they would have had fat stems after a month. You should be able to tell by the taste and smell of the leaves. Did you try it already?
FYI, the long thin stems you see coming out of the ground, where the leaves are clustered above, that’s where your bulb will form. Be patient, it will eventually fatten up. The first time I grew kohlrabi I pulled most of them out thinking that I’d planted them too far out of the ground. Only, the ones that I left in eventually did fatten up. Now I know that’s just how they grow so I leave them be.
Good luck and be sure to keep us updated.
Jodi
Ooo yes Linda, they could be turnips... I remember having oriental radish seeds, kohl rabi (but I thought I had planted them in another garden bed everydayinthegarden), turnip, and maybe swedes too??
All things that I have never grown before. It still didn't dawn on my small peanut brain to mark them though. What a numbnut!
Yep My vote is for Kohl Rabi.
Oh well it looks like it will be a guessing game a little longer till it fattens up or grows a bit bigger.
I haven't a clue, but it's been fun reading all the above comments :D)
It will be interesting finding out eventually what it turns out to be.
I know - I should be offering some sort of prize... umm my undying admiration for the winner's vegetal intuition?
It's Hong Vit Leaf Raddish. Here's another picture:
http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_425-116.html
Don't you think that's your plant?
Oh yay. Another vegetable non-labeler. We should form a club!
Same here, always leave the tagging later...then I forgot what it was I planted!
Ooo yes, the We Are Too Busy Living It Up To Mark Our Vegetables Association.
WATBLIUTMOVA for short.
Mal, it really does look a lot like that one, yes! I kept looking and looking at them today and I noticed the roots of one or two are starting to fatten. When will I know if they are radishes or turnips or swedes or kohl rabi? Don't they all fatten? Is it a Fat Root Vegetable!
This is a leafy variety of radish, so don't expect big roots. It's grown as one of the "asian greens" varieties. Eat raw young stir fry older leaves.
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