Re: [gardeners] Fw: Propogating Tree Collards
Tom Clothier (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 18 Jan 1998 08:40:15 -0600
From: George Shirley <gshirley@iamerica.net>
>Come on now! You don't really eat those nasty leaves do you? I never could
>stomach, literally, collards or mustard. Never said so before 'cause I was
>afraid someone would take my Southron citizenship away. Both collards and
>mustard have an odd taste I have never been able to adapt to. Chard,
>spinach, and several of the other greens taste fine.
We only grow chard now for all of our greens recipes, but as recently as 10
years ago, we grew almost all of the greens. Mustard, turnip, beet, and
collard greens make a fine mess, but I think it important to pick them at
their tender best, esp. Collards which are a bit more grainy than the others.
I always found it amusing, even ironic, that my s/o carried bags of greens to the
hospital where she worked to teach her co-workers (whose parents were from
the deep south) how to cook greens. I remember typing out many copies of
our recipes in those days.
Getting back to the original question though, you can cut cabbage and have
it re-grow it you leave a bit of the base of the head. But, if you cut further
down the stalk - nothing happens. And so, with collards, I suspect that if
this lady cuts the stalk near the ground, the plant will die. Further, I suspect
that rooting cut pieces of stalk may lead to a few roots, but no real plant.
If tree collards are just tall collards, then they should be extremely easy
to start from seed. No??
manytimes,
tom
zone 5a, NE Illinois, -21ºF Min
http://www.anet-chi.com/~manytimes