Magical Broccoli, Walking Onions, and More
My 2024 Growing Adventures in the Edible Garden
by Wendy MacLean, Master Gardener
Every year I try growing some vegetables or varieties I haven’t grown before. The beautiful diversity inviting me to this experimentation often brings the gift of a “new favourite.” The source of these invitations may be: a gardening friend who offers me a plant or seeds; reading a seed catalogue’s enticing description; or a recommendation given during a gardening class or course. All of these were my inspirations this year.
Here are six of my new favourites:
‘Green Magic’ Broccoli (Brassica oleraceae var. italica ‘Green Magic’)
After learning about this cultivar during an online class on growing edibles1, I sowed these F1 seeds in mid-April and by mid-May, they were ready for transplanting into my raised box garden. I added a handful of a Manitoba-made organic slow-release fertilizer to each planting hole in the potting mix and applied row cover immediately to protect the seedlings from flea beetles and cabbage butterfly larvae. I waited for the “magic” to begin. The plants grew quickly and soon were pushing against the top of the row cover. By July 5, we were eating our first delicious head of broccoli. Each plant produced one good-sized main head and then grew extra side shoots, each with a mini head. I gave one of my seedlings to a neighbour and she didn’t get it planted until the beginning of July. She harvested a delicious head on August 19. This cultivar is a winner!
‘Amsterdam’ Cutting Leaf Celery (Apium graveolens var. secalinum ‘Amsterdam’)
Photo: Wendy MacLean. ‘Amsterdam’ Leaf Celery in Container
With our warming climate, I’m trying to build resiliency into my garden. Choosing varieties that can withstand hot summers and still produce the hoped-for edibles is one strategy. Regular celery grown for stalks requires generous amounts of water and can become tough during hot weather. This come-to-the-rescue option was recommended in the same course on growing edibles2. I sowed these open-pollinated seeds on February 20 because the seed package indicated that they needed 20-30 days to germinate and then 80 days to reach maturity after transplanting. Seven days later, many of the seeds had germinated! On March 21, I transplanted the seedlings into individual pots that were deep enough to allow for good root development. A month later I transplanted the larger plants again, this time in larger planters—with a few plants going directly into the garden—and top-dressed both the potting mix and garden soil with good quality compost. All the plants grew well in part-shade and in June I made a pot of chicken noodle soup using the leaves for their “celery” flavour. As of late September, I have harvested the leaves three times, chopping and freezing them for winter use. According to the seed catalogue, this leaf celery is used in Europe for soups and stews, and now it will also be used in my Manitoba kitchen.
‘Suyo Long’ Climbing Cucumber (Cucumis sativus ‘Suyo Long’)
Photo: Wendy MacLean. ‘Suyo Long’ Climbing Cucumber.
Always looking for ways to make gardening easier, I’ve started growing more vegetables vertically. I read about this open-pollinated, heirloom climbing cucumber in a seed catalogue. Trellising was recommended for straight, 12-inch (30 cm) almost seedless cucumbers. I sowed the seeds in pots in mid-May. After a cool start to our summer, I transplanted them in mid-June, mixing into each planting hole some of my compost and a small amount of the Manitoba-made organic slow-release fertilizer. I provided consistent moisture and these plants climbed the wire mesh of the trellis as promised, producing delicious, crisp cucumbers by late July. As I write this in late September, these plants are still yielding beautiful cucumbers with no bitterness and I can pick them while standing! Another winner!
Egyptian Walking Onion (Allium x proliferum)3
Photo: Wendy MacLean. Egyptian Walking Onion.
When a friend, who is also an experienced gardener, offers you a new plant with an intriguing name and a suggestion to try it, there’s always room in the garden for this gift. This plant gets its name from its habit of bending its stem, heavy with bulbils, to the ground. These bulbils start growing and, with time, other plants can be found some distance away from the original location, thus “walking” across the property. I enjoyed using the green tops as a substitute for scallions early in the spring. Although you could eat the slender “onions” at the bottom, I found the early green shoots served my main purpose. My plant enjoyed a full sun location with my sun-loving herbs.
Pak Choi ‘White-Stemmed’ (Brassica rapa) (Chinensis Group)
Photo: Wendy MacLean. Pak Choi ‘White-Stemmed’.
Aiming to have some early leafy green vegetables for our meals, I found this Asian green described in a Canadian seed catalogue. With its relatively short time to reach maturity (45 days), I was tempted. I sowed the seeds in a well hydrated potting mix in a six-pack in mid-April and, three weeks later (May 5), transplanted them into my raised box garden. By early June, I harvested a large, beautiful head of this Asian green and was thrilled to see it lived up to my expectations. The pure white, crisp stalks topped with dark green leaves both added interest to our early summer stir-fries. If there are flea beetles and/or cabbage butterflies in your garden, I highly recommend protecting this Brassica with row cover.
Red Malabar Spinach (Basella rubra)
Photo: Wendy MacLean. Red Malabar Spinach.
In my experience, one of the more frustrating edibles to grow is spinach. Leaf production barely begins and the plants start to bolt in our late spring heat. Looking to the Global South for ideas, I learned from an acquaintance who grew up in India that the heat-loving, vining red Malabar spinach grows well there. After soaking the seeds in water for 24 hours, I sowed them on May 26 in pots indoors and in a few days, tiny seedlings began to appear. Because of our cooler June, I waited until June 27 to transplant them into the garden. Once the heat arrived these plants took off, climbing up a trellis and producing a long season of dark green fleshy leaves that I enjoyed using in stir-fries. They can also be added to salads and soups. Consistent moisture and a generous amount of organic matter kept them going until frost. When harvesting, it’s recommended that we leave some of the leaves on the vine so that the plant can continue photosynthesizing. Another use for this attractive burgundy-coloured vine is as a “spiller” in a container of edibles or ornamentals.
Years ago, I saw a comic strip about collecting recipes. While looking over her huge binder of saved recipes, a woman said “I’ll never live long enough to try all of them.” The same can be said about growing the endless diversity of edible plants, but I’m going to “give it the ol’ college try.”4
1Donna Balzer, a Calgary horticulturist, raved about this broccoli during the online course on growing edibles that she taught with Steven Biggs from October 2023 to June 2024.
2Steven Biggs, a horticulturist from Toronto, taught the above-mentioned online course with Donna Balzer. He was enthusiastic about this cutting leaf celery. You can read more about their online courses at https://learn.foodgardenlife.com/
3 For a detailed description of this onion, see: https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/egyptian-walking-onions/
4 Some possible sources of this phrase are discussed here: https://www.quora.com/Where-does-the-saying-good-old-college-try-come-from