Journal March 6, 2013

This afternoon I picked a nice batch of Fudanso Umaina which my wife is preparing for dinner this evening.  Fudanso is Japanese for chard and Umaina is the variety of cultivar.  It is a shorter version of chard with glossy green leaves and short mid ribs and is incredibly tender and tasty when picked young.  Tomorrow the system will be replanted with beet greens and the cycle will repeat.

It is a case of trying different varieties of vegetables that you would not normally see in the produce section of your local market, or at any green grocer.  

Continuing to grow fairly unusual vegetables I have started seeds for tennis ball lettuce, a Boston type grown by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello and Japanese Black Trifele tomatoes, a pear shaped Russian heirloom.  

Why a Russian heirloom tomato is named Japanese Trifele is beyond me though.