What's Growing 2026

[Galatians522]

Hey everyone, I want to see if we could get some more discussion going over here on the vegetable section. Let's talk about what we are growing in the garden! I'll start.

I've been having a lot of success the past couple seasons with growing Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli/Kale) over the cold season. I am growing the Yad Fah variety from Thailand. Gai Lan is very similar to kale/collards when cut young and cooked as a green. It does not seem to have major pest or disease problems here when grown over the cool season.

I'm also growing a Lettuce hybrid that I produced myself of the heat tolerant Queensland and a Red Romaine. This is the F2 generation and I am getting everything from all green to nearly full red. I plan to call the variety Sun Kiss.

Also growing Snow peas, Pak Choi, and Komatsuna. Carrots sadly suffered a rabbit attack and then foliar disease. I should have rotated my planting site. There will be a few, but nothing like last year.

Hopefully Bovine will give us an update on his mellon project.

[Pokeweed]

I grew a new to me Cowpea last Summer that I was very impressed with. The variety is "mavuno". Very productive and rampant. I got it from Cody Cove farm. I will continue growing this one. D

[roblack]

Growing some small tomatoes (including Everglades), various peppers, wing beans, moringa, beets, parsley, pigeon peas, hibiscus, carrots, onions, and gotta bunch of old seeds I need to toss in a pot or the yard.

[Galatians522]

I grew a new to me Cowper last Summer that I was very impressed with. The variety is "mavuno". Very productive and rampant. I got it from Cody Five farm. I will continue growing this one. D

Glad to hear that it's doing well for you. I tried some Zipper Cream peas that were supposedly nematode resistant only to find that they certainly were not resistant in my garden. 

[Galatians522]

Growing some small tomatoes (including Everglades), various peppers, wing beans, moringa, beets, parsley, pigeon peas, hibiscus, carrots, onions, and gotta bunch of old seeds I need to toss in a pot or the yard.

That sounds like lots of fun! Are you talking about the edible lead hibiscus also known as bele or just the regular flowering kind?

[Sharq]

I am going big on fruiting solanums this year (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and various edible nightshades). My pigeon peas are all mostly in there 2nd year, and I eat them both green amd dried (I blanch and freeze thee greens if I don't eat them fresh). Its brasica season, but I still haven't had any luck with anything but mustards and collards. The rest just don't seem to grow, from seed or from starts, in ground or raised beds. I do have some kolrabi doing very well though. My carrots and magnolia peas are growing well, planting sugar peas this weekend.
In spring, in addition to my nightshades, I am also going to be putting on a good amount of Egyptian Spinach. That stuff is super tasty. Lots of squash and melons to trial this year as well.

[From the sea]

I am growing purple sweet potatoes, moringa, Tongan spinach, Chaya, kangkong, and a few squash  varieties. I live in a dry lowlands area and have been trying different varieties of leafy greens for a few years now and have finally found some success.

[roblack]

Growing some small tomatoes (including Everglades), various peppers, wing beans, moringa, beets, parsley, pigeon peas, hibiscus, carrots, onions, and gotta bunch of old seeds I need to toss in a pot or the yard.

That sounds like lots of fun! Are you talking about the edible lead hibiscus also known as bele or just the regular flowering kind?

Growing cranberry hibiscus and sorrel. The leaves are tasty (both, especially cranberry), and sometimes make tea from the calyxes (sorrel).

[70Malibu]

I'm growing The Purple tomato, anyone else growing these cherry tomato's?

[Galatians522]

I am going big on fruiting solanums this year (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and various edible nightshades). My pigeon peas are all mostly in there 2nd year, and I eat them both green amd dried (I blanch and freeze thee greens if I don't eat them fresh). Its brasica season, but I still haven't had any luck with anything but mustards and collards. The rest just don't seem to grow, from seed or from starts, in ground or raised beds. I do have some kolrabi doing very well though. My carrots and magnolia peas are growing well, planting sugar peas this weekend.
In spring, in addition to my nightshades, I am also going to be putting on a good amount of Egyptian Spinach. That stuff is super tasty. Lots of squash and melons to trial this year as well.

For basically, I prefer direct seeding in October/November. I planted more about a week ago, we'll see how they do. I think anything in the bok choy family transplants well for me, but the kale/cabbage side of the family seems to can wilt and get set back unless the weather is just right. I have really been having good success with Chinese Broccoli as a collards substitute. I can save my own seed and grow as much as I want. I keep selecting for the late bloomers. I also have had good success with Komatsuna. Baker Creek sent me a packet of free seed a while back and I have been growing it ever since. It's basically an Asian turnip green. It is a semi-bienial. So, unlike bok Choy it grows for a long time before bolting.

[Galatians522]

I am growing purple sweet potatoes, moringa, Tongan spinach, Chaya, kangkong, and a few squash  varieties. I live in a dry lowlands area and have been trying different varieties of leafy greens for a few years now and have finally found some success.

Sounds like a good line up. I have been contemplating Tongan spinach (Bele) for a while.

[Galatians522]

Growing cranberry hibiscus and sorrel. The leaves are tasty (both, especially cranberry), and sometimes make tea from the calyxes (sorrel).

It's quite a bit of work, but you should try candying the calyxes next year. I boil them in a simple sugar syrup until clear and then let them cool in the syrup. After that you drain and dehydrate. They come out like crasins! The syrup makes a great concentrate for tea, too.

[Coconut Cream]

Roselle is an amazing product with so many uses. I love to make chutney with it, or tea. When do you guys normally sow your roselle seeds?

I tried to grow eggplant this year but very few of my seeds sprouted. I had a nice selection of varieties but I will have to try again next fall.

[Galatians522]

I have started Roselle as early as January in starter plugs and direct down as late as early May. They won't bloom until they get the proper day length, so early started plants are bigger with more of a harvest. When I started them in January I only had 6 seeds. I gave 2 away and the remaining 4 plants grew to be almost 8' tall and kept me very busy. I like the starter trays if I am going early because I can keep the seed warm for good germination.

[Galatians522]

Some of the Chinese Broccoli


 

[roblack]

Some of the Chinese Broccoli

WOW! Reminds me of the farm =) You are on another level! Beautiful broccoli

[Galatians522]

Thank! They came out nice this year. I gave them plenty of water and fertilizer, but 0 sprays so far.  I harvested every other plant after the picture for greens. They do make a nice substitute for collard greens. I froze a bunch. Way more than we could eat.

[JCorte]

I have so much to share on this thread! 

I feel like I’ve trialed all the edible greens and most annual vegetables offered by Baker Creek, Kitazawa, Seed Savers exchange and many other regional catalogs and independent specialty growers.  I trialed all the root crops offered by Cultivariable before he stopped selling most of his offerings and most vegetables bred by Dr. Alan Kapuler (Peace Seeds).  Sand Hill Preservation Center is also a great source of heirloom seeds, root crops, and heritage poultry breeds.

I finally have narrowed down my garlic to 2 varieties after trialing over 50, including specialty varieties from all over the world, in the last decade.  I needed a variety that could produce in my cool coastal climate over a short season and have good keeping qualities. 

I have many of my own breeding projects and selections as well.  I lost my phone and a lot of photos, need to go back and see which ones were saved on my computer.

Galatians522, Gai Lan is one of my favorites and I consider Bele to be one of the best perennial greens.  I removed longevity spinach because I didn’t eat it after I started growing Bele.  Peace Seedlings (Dr Alan Alan Kapuler’s daughter’s seed company) is a great source for peas in many colors, some hypertendril.  They’ve done a lot of breeding and selection for edible podded peas.

Bele in my garden, one has burgundy new leaves and beautiful variegation, it gets some grasshopper damage.  The other has dark green mature leaves with beautiful red stems.











Janet

[JCorte]

A couple of my okras, one white, other one pink.  Plants make beautiful flowers.

[Galatians522]

I have so much to share on this thread! 

I feel like I’ve trialed all the edible greens and most annual vegetables offered by Baker Creek, Kitazawa, Seed Savers exchange and many other regional catalogs and independent specialty growers.  I trialed all the root crops offered by Cultivariable before he stopped selling most of his offerings and most vegetables bred by Dr. Alan Kapuler (Peace Seeds).  Sand Hill Preservation Center is also a great source of heirloom seeds, root crops, and heritage poultry breeds.

I finally have narrowed down my garlic to 2 varieties after trialing over 50, including specialty varieties from all over the world, in the last decade.  I needed a variety that could produce in my cool coastal climate over a short season and have good keeping qualities. 

I have many of my own breeding projects and selections as well.  I lost my phone and a lot of photos, need to go back and see which ones were saved on my computer.

Galatians522, Gai Lan is one of my favorites and I consider Bele to be one of the best perennial greens.  I removed longevity spinach because I didn’t eat it after I started growing Bele.  Peace Seedlings (Dr Alan Alan Kapuler’s daughter’s seed company) is a great source for peas in many colors, some hypertendril.  They’ve done a lot of breeding and selection for edible podded peas.

Bele in my garden, one has burgundy new leaves and beautiful variegation, it gets some grasshopper damage.  The other has dark green mature leaves with beautiful red stems.











Janet

Janet, that is some beautiful okra and bele. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the greens that you grew.

[JCorte]

If you like Yod Fah, Purple Hon Tsai Tai is also one of my favorites and it has beautiful purple stems.

My favorite mustard green is Ho-Mi-Z, mature leaves are beautiful with dark purple and green and it's the best tasting that I have tried.  It's spicy but also has a sweet aftertaste.  One year when I was cutting back the large flowering stalks, I noticed the inside of the stalk looked tender so peeled the outer layer and found it to be one of the best tasting vegetables for stir fry and also good raw.

Best tasting collard green is an heirloom variety from North Carolina named Yellow Cabbage Collard.  Cascade Glaze collard is a unique collard green with shiny waxy coating.

My top heat tolerant lettuces:  Italienischer, Cougar Batavian, and 2 Frank Morten varieties, Jester and Icy Oak. 

With all my lettuce trials I found that I prefer growing open head lettuces that I can harvest from over a long season.  Some of the heading lettuce tasted good but it was hard to control slugs hiding inside and all that time to harvest one head wasn't worth it for me in my small home garden.  With the open head lettuce varieties, instead of just harvesting the outer leaves for salad, I harvest from the young center leaves.  As the plant matures the center leaves continue to have crisp texture and good taste even when the leaves are small and the larger outer leaves keep feeding the plant.  I also found when the lettuce starts to go to seed they will grow several feet tall and the leaves can still be harvested as good cooking greens.  They are excellent green for soups and stews. A can harvest for several months from a single lettuce plant.

Sea kale, Crambe maritima, make gourmet greens easier than belgian endive.  This is effortless to grow.  I grow them in pots, they go dormant in winter.  Before spring growth I cover the top of the pot with a black fabric pot to exclude light.  The new growth is tender white with beautiful pinkish purple leaves.  Makes a fine dining restaurant quality salad.  The leaves during the regular season that get sunlight can be used as a cooking green.

I also have greens that are my own breeding selections that I've worked on for around 15 years from crosses of my favorite brassicas.

Janet

[Galatians522]

If you like Yod Fah, Purple Hon Tsai Tai is also one of my favorites and it has beautiful purple stems.

My favorite mustard green is Ho-Mi-Z, mature leaves are beautiful with dark purple and green and it's the best tasting that I have tried.  It's spicy but also has a sweet aftertaste.  One year when I was cutting back the large flowering stalks, I noticed the inside of the stalk looked tender so peeled the outer layer and found it to be one of the best tasting vegetables for stir fry and also good raw.

Best tasting collard green is an heirloom variety from North Carolina named Yellow Cabbage Collard.  Cascade Glaze collard is a unique collard green with shiny waxy coating.

My top heat tolerant lettuces:  Italienischer, Cougar Batavian, and 2 Frank Morten varieties, Jester and Icy Oak. 

With all my lettuce trials I found that I prefer growing open head lettuces that I can harvest from over a long season.  Some of the heading lettuce tasted good but it was hard to control slugs hiding inside and all that time to harvest one head wasn't worth it for me in my small home garden.  With the open head lettuce varieties, instead of just harvesting the outer leaves for salad, I harvest from the young center leaves.  As the plant matures the center leaves continue to have crisp texture and good taste even when the leaves are small and the larger outer leaves keep feeding the plant.  I also found when the lettuce starts to go to seed they will grow several feet tall and the leaves can still be harvested as good cooking greens.  They are excellent green for soups and stews. A can harvest for several months from a single lettuce plant.

Sea kale, Crambe maritima, make gourmet greens easier than belgian endive.  This is effortless to grow.  I grow them in pots, they go dormant in winter.  Before spring growth I cover the top of the pot with a black fabric pot to exclude light.  The new growth is tender white with beautiful pinkish purple leaves.  Makes a fine dining restaurant quality salad.  The leaves during the regular season that get sunlight can be used as a cooking green.

I also have greens that are my own breeding selections that I've worked on for around 15 years from crosses of my favorite brassicas.

Janet

Wonderful information! I am hoping to grow Piracicaba Broccoli next year. I would like to cross it with the Gai Lan to create a seed savers B. Oleracea for Florida. I am growing Old Tokyo Komatsuna and Toy Choy Pak Choy. I hope to make a cross between the two that will keep the eating quality of the Toy Choy without bolting so quickly. I am on my F2 generation of a lettuce hybrid between Queensland (a heat tolerant open head cos type) and Red Romaine. I am calling it Sunkiss. Everyone tells me that the flavor is excellent. I plan to select for the red/bronze color now.

I wonder how a "tree okra" would do grafted onto Bele. I have grafted okra to Cranberry Hibiscus several time with ease, but the Clemson Spineless that I was growing seems to die out after it fruits a couple times. I was hoping that grafting would solve that, but it did not. I think I need a longer lived variety like Nkruma Tenten.

[JCorte]

Glad your lettuce cross is a keeper.  Love that you are experimenting with your own crosses and creating something unique and delicious.
Your brassica crosses sound promising, you might want to check out Purple Peacock broccoli in addition to Piracicaba Broccoli. It's a beautiful purple stemmed broccolini type with purple kale like leaves.  During winter the colors become vibrant and I found it can be perennial producing for several years.

As for the quick bolting of your Toy Choy, I found that many greens seem to bolt quickly. I think the reason for a lot of quick bolting greens in general is how seed producers grow their seed crops.  It takes a lot longer to produce seed than growing them as a crop, and once they go to seed they become prime targets for aphids and other insects.  So, I think seed producers have an incentive to select for plants that go to seed quickly.  Less time to produce is better for them, but not for us.  For this reason, I grow and save my own seeds.  I initially start by planting out multiple seed packets of a variety so that I can select for the best genetics.  I harvest all the earliest bolting plants so they don't cross pollinate and save seeds from the plants that produce over the longest period and are last to bolt.  I continue to do this every year, selecting for the best plants and latest bolting to get strong strains and best quality seeds. 

I don't know if Bele would make a good rootstock for okra or if it's graft compatible.  It doesn't like my cold, wet winter and can rot.  I take cuttings to root new plants indoors.  I wonder if using a different okra as an inter stem between the cranberry hibiscus and tree okra would make a difference.  Do you think Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus syriacus, might be graft compatible?  I have a large vigorous plant that's drought tolerant and isn't affected by nematodes.  I'll try to graft cranberry hibiscus to see if takes.

[Galatians522]

When you said it was a perennial, I was thinking that it grew year round for you. Bele is supposedly more closely related to okra than Cranberry Hibiscus (Hibiscus acetoaella) and hybrids with okra have been created. Apparently they are sterile unless they undergo chromosome doubling, though. I would give Rose of Sharon a try. I got okra to take on Caesar Weed (Urena lobata) which seem more distantly related (the graft took but it did not grow strongly--I might try it again some time). I think there is a "line in the sand, though, with the true woody hibiscus shrubs like H. Rosa-sinensis (I tried a couple on Cranberry Hibiscus and they failed).

I agree with you regarding the quick bolting. The nice thing about Komatsuna is that it is semi-bienial. So, it flowers here, but it is very late in the season.

[JCorte]

Bele is perennial.  My soil at home is heavy clay and when we get extended rain and cold combined like last month they can rot.  The variegated one survived, but my green one which was 8 feet tall rotted at the base.  Good to know that they are closely related to okra for grafting.

[JF Paso]

I've been growing loroco for a few years and I really enjoy the unopened flowers.  It is a perennial vining plant that does well in partial sun for me.  I also grow/enjoy banana peppers that ripen (red) as it develops a rich flavor. Also, the plants do not seem prone to diseases. 
I have grown Bele (variegated) and it grew tall and had to be constantly pruned for a
few uears and then it rotted. I didn`t replant as I never used the leaves.
Thanks for the information on using cranberry hibiscus as once you have one you will always have some

[Galatians522]

I've been growing loroco for a few years and I really enjoy the unopened flowers.  It is a perennial vining plant that does well in partial sun for me.  I also grow/enjoy banana peppers that ripen (red) as it develops a rich flavor. Also, the plants do not seem prone to diseases. 
I have grown Bele (variegated) and it grew tall and had to be constantly pruned for a
few uears and then it rotted. I didn`t replant as I never used the leaves.
Thanks for the information on using cranberry hibiscus as once you have one you will always have some

I had never heard of Loroco and had to look it up. How do you use it?

[JF Paso]

I've been growing loroco for a few years and I really enjoy the unopened flowers.  It is a perennial vining plant that does well in partial sun for me.  I also grow/enjoy banana peppers that ripen (red) as it develops a rich flavor. Also, the plants do not seem prone to diseases. 
I have grown Bele (variegated) and it grew tall and had to be constantly pruned for a
few uears and then it rotted. I didn`t replant as I never used the leaves.
Thanks for the information on using cranberry hibiscus as once you have one you will always have some

I had never heard of Loroco and had to look it up. How do you use it?

You use the unopened flower buds. I use them in omelets mostly, but hoping to expand my culinary use of it as the vine is finally growing with lots more flowers.  The texture is nice and the flavor is rich but mild, maybe like asparagus crossed with broccoli..sort of   no insect or disease problems that I have experienced in the last few years, so I'm not sure why it is not grown more.

[From the sea]

I am growing purple sweet potatoes, moringa, Tongan spinach, Chaya, kangkong, and a few squash  varieties. I live in a dry lowlands area and have been trying different varieties of leafy greens for a few years now and have finally found some success.

Sounds like a good line up. I have been contemplating Tongan spinach (Bele) for a while.

It’s a good green that is very easy to grow and not very slimy

[Daintree]

Well, it is 15 degrees here, so all my tropical veggies are snug in the greenhouse.
Mostly I have "longevity spinach" Gynura procumbens. The stuff grows faster than I can eat it, but since it is good for me I can't complain.
I keep a few tomatoes too, and plant them back out in the spring.

That's about all that I can squeeze in...

[Galatians522]

For anyone who is curious, Vates kale is very hardy stuff. It showed only minor damage from the recent freezes. Komatsuna was also a stand out. I would recommend both of them for Florida conditions. Romaine lettuce suffered a little damage but is mostly recovered--another good Florida option being both cold and heat resistant. Gai lan, snow peas, toy choy and carrots all suffered damage with gai lan being hit the worst surprisingly. Lessons learned for another year.

[SoCalGardenNut]

I bought a bag of okra seeds for one dollar, I’m going to sow a few seeds for the backyard, the flowers are going to be pretty, good enough for edible gardening.
Oh, I just sprouted some sage. My front yard is dedicated to growing low growing herbs.

[vall]

No issues with the freeze:
Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, tatsoi, carrots, beets, chard, dill, fennel, cilantro, parsley, thai shallot, chives, scallion, leeks, arugula, snap peas, snapdragons. Grass jelly is cold tolerant! it did not die back at all.

I buried my young luffa plants in mulch, they are alive and thriving now.
I put a foot of mulch on my loroco and it is pushing new growth below the mulch line.
I think the chayote is dead. Not sure if the moringa will push new growth from roots, I did not mulch it. Pigeon peas are dead but I planted way too many so I still have enough peas to last the year. I bought a pea sheller from ebay which saves so much time.
Dug up a milk crate full of yuca and 5 pounds of ube. Both will be replanted. Also dug up my first crop of yacon which tastes amazing. I will be planting more this year.

Restarting a few tomatoes, green beans, okra, peppers, eggplant for spring/summer. It looks like some of my salad tree cuttings are rooting - I think the mother plant is dead.

[Galatians522]

No issues with the freeze:
Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, tatsoi, carrots, beets, chard, dill, fennel, cilantro, parsley, thai shallot, chives, scallion, leeks, arugula, snap peas, snapdragons. Grass jelly is cold tolerant! it did not die back at all.

I buried my young luffa plants in mulch, they are alive and thriving now.
I put a foot of mulch on my loroco and it is pushing new growth below the mulch line.
I think the chayote is dead. Not sure if the moringa will push new growth from roots, I did not mulch it. Pigeon peas are dead but I planted way too many so I still have enough peas to last the year. I bought a pea sheller from ebay which saves so much time.
Dug up a milk crate full of yuca and 5 pounds of ube. Both will be replanted. Also dug up my first crop of yacon which tastes amazing. I will be planting more this year.

Restarting a few tomatoes, green beans, okra, peppers, eggplant for spring/summer. It looks like some of my salad tree cuttings are rooting - I think the mother plant is dead.

Sounds like you have a fantastic garden! When and how did you grow your yacon?