- Author: Christine Casey
Winter crops are finished and our spring plantings are coming along nicely. Here's a wrap-up of what we grew this winter:
Bok choy
You'll find lots of information about this crop in a previous post. As you can see, bok choy remains fresh and ready to harvest even after it has bolted (the term used for cabbage family members that have flowered). Healthy food for us and the bees = win-win!
Brussels sprouts
This California specialty crop is delicious sautéed in olive oil with a bit of seasoning. Again, we let ours bolt to provide a nutritious winter pollen source for our bees. Most US production is in California and is concentrated along the coast; the cool, foggy weather there is perfect for this crop. Value in 2015 was nearly $24 million.
Brussels sprouts are high in vitamins C, K, and some B vitamins. Like other cabbage family members, they contain sulforaphane, a compound that may have anti-cancer properties. Steam or stir-fry Brussels sprouts to ensure the highest level of this chemical.
Cauliflower
Several cauliflower varieties are available for purchase at the market or for production by the home gardener. California produces most of the cauliflower consumed in the US, with production along the coast and in the Inland Empire. Crop value in 2015 was $309 million. It is very nutritious: it's a source of vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6.
Here you can see one head ready for harvest and how the part we eat is actually flower buds. By growing a few extras to flower for the bees we can all have a nutritious meal! The purple variety 'Graffiti' gets its color from the plant pigment anthocyanin, which is high in antioxidants.
Fava bean
You'll find lots of information about this crop in a previous post. The expanding fava bean pod still has remnants of the flower attached, which shows nicely how pollination of the ovary at the base of the flower leads to development of the produce we harvest.
For more recipes, check out this helpful reference guide prepared by the Yolo County Department of Agriculture and funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
- Author: Christine Casey
There are many California specialty crops that are harvested for their foliage; since we're not harvesting a fruit or vegetable folks don't often think of these as providing resources for bees. However even though we eat the foliage, these plants still need to flower and be pollinated so that seed for the next crop can be produced.
One of the healthiest of these specialty crops -- both for us and for bees -- is bok choy. Sometimes referred to as Chinese cabbage, it is in the mustard family (Brassicaceae) and goes by the scientific name Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis. California leads the US in production of Asian vegetables; boy choy is a cool-season crop that is grown along the Central Coast from Salinas to Santa Maria.
Fortunately for us, this superfood that is full of vitamins and antioxidants is easy to grow at home. Interestingly, recent research has shown that the antioxidant levels in bok choy leaves increase with stir-frying, which is the common method of cooking (Food Chemisty. 2016. 203:23-27 and International Journal of Food Properties. 2016. 19(11):2536-2549).
Plants are available at the garden center in late fall. Grow in full sun or light shade and provide plenty of water. If you don't have a garden, bok choy can easily be grown in a large container like a 5-gallon bucket. Here's one of our plants at the Haven about a month after planting.
The normal harvest recommendation is to cut off the entire plant at the base. To feed the bees, however, remove individual leaves as needed and leave the plant intact. So long as there is not a hard frost, it will go on to flower in January.
The process of leafy vegetables flowering is called "bolting" and is generally thought to make the plant inedible. But not to the bees! This is especially true in bok choy; the flower structure of this plant makes both pollen and nectar available to bees, which isn't the case for all mustards. At the Honey Bee Haven we plant several beds of various Brassicaeae for the sole purpose of letting them flower to feed our bees. Here's a honey bee on bok choy in late January.