Vegetables as Flowers

I had my finest specimens of Pak choi ever this year and they tasted...well I haven't a clue. In case you haven't read my recent posts, we bought a house last year so this is my first gardening season in our new home. We have just over half an acre of garden including a large secluded sheltered sunny area - perfect for gardening except for the septic tank. I have no idea if any part of the area is safe for growing veg. It's a big space but I'd only be guessing where the pipes run and I'm not brave enough. I am planning raised beds even though some sources recommend not putting any structures on the leach field of a septic tank. We'll see.

Anyway, my Pak choi. Big beautiful unblemished plants.

They got a lot bigger than that but annoyingly I neglected to take a photo of them before they flowered, which is what I want to talk about. The only reason I let them go to flower is because I was afraid to eat them and was enjoying looking at them so much. Here is a photo of my pak choi blooming it's long flower stalks full of small sunny yellow blooms:

Pak choi is a brassica so I was immediately reminded of my purple sprouting broccoli plants of yore. This is a photo of some of my 2015 plants:

One reason you might let a vegetable plant go to flower is to collect the seed that will eventually come from the flower. To do this, using broccoli as an example, you do not harvest all the broccoli but allow some of the heads to stay on the plant. Eventually the tightly packed purple heads will burst into flower. When the flower dies you will be left with a seed pod containing green seeds. Allow the pods to dry on the plant and the seed is now dark grey/black and is ready to be harvested. The seed can be stored and planted to grow new vegetables and it is at that level of gardening that you get supreme satisfaction.

Another reason to let veg flower is, as I have discovered this year, they are excellent hosts to beneficial insects. I noticed last week that my pak choi flowers are swarming with the well-known pollinators hoverflies. Here are some pics:

A darker coloured one:

And today I snapped numerous red soldier beetles, or Rhagonycha fulva. This is their mating season and I was happy to read that the adults feed on aphids while their larvae prey on slugs and snails. This might be the most perfect insect I've ever met!

I am now really excited to experiment with more vegetables to see what flowers they produce and what insects they bring to the garden. It is almost as thrilling as eating them.

Growing Broccoli as a Perennial Vegetable

This is purple sprouting broccoli (PSB), planted April last year, which finished in March of this year. I left it in the ground in the hope of saving my seed but when I noticed green growth re-appearing, I decided to try to get a second year's crop from the plant. I didn't give the broccoli any protection over winter, it being a hardy plant, so there really was no work involved in prolonging its life. Aphids are a possible problem, and some of my other brassicas fell victim to them, but this plant escaped which is why it is looking so healthy. At the moment, I am being vigilant about checking for eggs lain by the cabbage white butterfly, which will hatch into hungry caterpillars. These bright yellow eggs are easily spotted on the underside of the leaves, and easily squished! I have an in-depth post about identifying and preventing caterpillar attacks here.

After reading that brassicas are notorious for cross pollinating, and having had brussels sprouts and cauliflowers in the same area, I decided not to save the seed but feel even more excited about the prospect of getting more broccoli. If you have been following my posts, you'll have noticed that PSB was the highlight of my last veg crop and we were eating it for the first few months of the year. Each plant will give you three cuts and it is excellent for freezing. 

I have four new plants that I sowed in April of this year, and if they are all successful, I will have a nice bounty of broccoli again early next year.

Similarly, one of my last year's brussels sprouts plant has healthy re-growth so I am leaving that in the ground also in the hope of winning the double.

I'll update this post in a few months with some new photographs. Hopefully this is the first step in establishing some perennial vegetables in my garden.

*Update*

I'm updating this years too late and without photos but I had totally forgotten about this post until a commentator reminded me. I got a nice crop in year two. Smaller, firmer and more purple heads. I pulled out the plant after the second crop as it was looking haggard but I must try again and go for a third year.