Harvesting small amounts from iceberg lettuce, caulliflower, broccoli, cabbage etc.

Hello everyone,
 
I tried to look on the other forms, to have a possible answer, but personally I did not find any. So I apologize if the question is double and I am happy to be linked to one that answers it.

As we know, for leave lettuce, you can just harvest a few leaves that you want to eat and let the rest grow. This way you can just harvest small amounts, without worrying that the rest go bad before you can eat it, and reduce your waste.

I was wondering if this is also possible for other plants like iceberg lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage. The reason why I am asking is that in general, we are not very fond of eating these vegetables on their own. But when mixing them with other vegetables a whole cauliflower/ broccoli/ cabbage is just way too much for us and leaving them out of the dish is just wrong, if you know what I mean.

I understand that it might be easier for one type over the other. So if you tried it with a specific breed, I am interested to know which one it was. Alternatively, I am also interested in knowing breeds that remain small, when it is necessary to harvest the whole vegetable at once. With small, I mean something that is enough for 1 meal for 2 people.

yes you can

I am kind of curious how often you can do this and how much longer the vegetable will remain in the square.

Zephyros wrote:I am kind of curious how often you can do this and how much longer the vegetable will remain in the square.

I'd be surprised if flowers like cauliflower and broccoli can be partially harvested -- they're changing every day. Hopefully I'm wrong (again!). Cabbage keeps in the refrigerator longer than most plants will keep in the garden. I've been growing Merveille lettuce. The leaves are generally like those of iceberg, but colorful. I harvest it over weeks.

On other notes -

Wow -- 2010. You must be one of the original forum members! Spreek je Nederlands? I've been studying it for about 2 years now.
Mathew 7:7 forms the acronym A.S.K. Coincidence?  

Happy Gardening!

markqz wrote:

Zephyros wrote:I am kind of curious how often you can do this and how much longer the vegetable will remain in the square.

I'd be surprised if flowers like cauliflower and broccoli can be partially harvested -- they're changing every day. Hopefully I'm wrong (again!). Cabbage keeps in the refrigerator longer than most plants will keep in the garden. I've been growing Merveille lettuce. The leaves are generally like those of iceberg, but colorful. I harvest it over weeks.

On other notes -

Wow -- 2010. You must be one of the original forum members! Spreek je Nederlands? I've been studying it for about 2 years now.
Mathew 7:7 forms the acronym A.S.K. Coincidence?  

Happy Gardening!

When considering that broccoli and cauliflower are flowers, it would also mean that there are also maybe one or two days where they can be harvested for the " perfect" crop. But I think there is a longer period where you can harvest them, not sure though. Also, based on the experience with some clustered flowers on my windowsill, not all the clusters bloom at the same time. That would suggest that it should be possible to partially harvest the crop. Question remains if there is enough space to cut one cluster/ head without damaging the others too much, considering that the cauliflower and broccoli that I know from the supermarkt are quite dense packed together. Although I saw in my local seed store a cauliflower breed that has such loose clusters that some people wouldn't recognise it for cauliflower (me included).

When it comes to cabbage, my book How to store your garden produce from Piers Warren, states that cabbage can stay in the ground in the winter untill needed. Therefore I was wondering if it is possible to just harvest a few leaves, like lettuce. With my supermarkt experience I say it would be hard to do it, because the leaves of cabbage are also very dens packed together. However like for the cauliflower, it might be possible that there are types that have looser leaves (haven't found one so far). Or that it is possible to peel off some leaves more easily when they are younger. I have no experience with it, since I never had the space to grow them.

On the side notes:
I am not sure if it means I am one of the original forum members. I heard from square foot gardening way back then before it became more popular over here. Unfortunately up until last year I only had a windowsill to grow things on, so I wasn't very active. Now I have an apartment with a small balcony  , who is unfortunately already to small for my imaginary garden  . But my colleague encouraged me to look into a community garden, which I am currently investigating.

Unfortunately, the acronym of Matthew 7:7 seems to only work in Englisch, because the Dutch translation would be: Vraag en er zal gegeven worden, zoek en je zult vinden, klop en er zal open worden gedaan. Making it v.z.k., which seems to be a volleyball association. 

Zephyros, Hi there!

Princezoe lived in the Netherlands until he moved to Italy, where he again started SFG. He may know of some available local varieties that produce smaller heads. Looking at Baker Creek Seeds book "The Whole Seed Catalog", for broccoli, there are rapini and early purple sprouting (I've grown Early Purple), and Chinese broccoli. Maybe Brussels sprouts would work in place of large cabbage plants. The lower sprouts can be picked leaving the upper to develop. For green cabbage, I like to make small batch cabbage, which is something you may want to try with the other half. Debbie makes kraut in quart jars but I make it in pints size jars because there are only the 2 of us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Frou7gg7U

Princezoe organized a community garden at his apartment complex in the Netherlands.

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t17037-sfg-in-amsterdam-nieuw-west

Hi Sanderson,

I searched the Baker Creek Seed book online for some inspiration but I am not sure if they ship to Europe. However, some of the variaties I saw, are also available from a store I really like to order. It is called Vreekens Zaden, and they also sell rare or uncommon variaties.

I finally had some time to dig trough their cabbage section with 171 different variaties. I came across a cross breed of Brussels sprouts with kale/ borehole (I am unsure of the correct English word given by the dictionary). According to the description it grows like Brussels sprouts, but the leaves of the sprouts are looser then the Brussels sprouts and have more of a kale flavour. I don't know if you have ever heard of those or tried them. This is a link to it: https://www.vreeken.nl/182100-roosjes-spruitkool-petit-posy-flower-sprouts-autumn-star.

I am aware that the description is in Dutch, but the Latin name is with it. And in the end, one picture says more then a 1000 words.

Furthermore, I was wondering if kale is a good alternative, as they also grow a stem of which you can cut some leaves, just like Brussels sprouts. But I am not sure if kale can replace cabbage in every recipe. And so far I have only found green types of kale, so I am not sure what to replace white cabbage with.

My issue with the whole thing is that cabbage is a great winter crop for growing food by your self all year long. For me, cabbage is not my favourite vegtable but I also do not dislike it. Especially since I realise that for cabbage, it matters a great deal on how you prepare it.

My husband has a whole different opinion about it. He just doesn't like it. Although we found a few recipes that I am allowed to cook once in a while. Also, I am afraid that making Kraut is not an option for him. Making it sour makes it even worse for him.

However, Debbie was saying that the fermentation was already completed before it turns sour. So my interpretation is that after that, you just let stand untill you like the flavour. Did you try it once after completing fermenting before turning sour?

Earlier this week, I found out that we are actually eating more cabbage then I thought. One of my husbands favourite dishes is bami goreng. And for this we often buy a bag of mixed cut vegetables. Which contains ...~35% white cabbage, depending on the brand/ store you buy it from . That started this whole questioning. Because for that it is nice to have it fresh. I could blanch the rest of it, but I don't have a big freezer or the space to put an extra one for produce.

Those look interesting! Apparently the search term in English is "Kalettes". Johnny's seeds offers them.

The walking stick kale has lots of individual leaves and my daughter says they remind her of brussels sprouts. I've eaten very few of them because the aphids always beat me to them.

The "kalettes" look interesting. Harvest a couple florets and stir fry with other vegetables or chop to include in a salad. I do eat kale in soups or fine chopped for healthy salads. But, cabbage or broccoli leaves make better cabbage rolls. With the broccoli, the tough vein needs to be cut out.

Debbie's sauerkraut is just perfect for me at the 21st day. [At least I think it is 21 days, I just can't get to the book where I put the recipe that I wrote down while watching the video.] I put the finished kraut jars in the refrigerator to slow down further fermentation. It is important to use the amount of canning salt (a very fine plain salt) for the poundage of cabbage. If you make a smaller amount than her video, adjust the salt. I love kraut as I grew up on it. Cold, warm or hot with pork chops cooked in it. It is an acquired taste. Cold from the refrigerator, it is probiotic.