Seeds.....

Status
Not open for further replies.

Meg90

Active Member
10 Year Member!
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
Messages
1,961
Location (City and/or State)
WI
I plan to be buying alot of seed packets soon since most stores around me are starting to stock up their gardening centres....Even though we still have 3+ feet of snow on the ground...but hey, it gives me something to do, and its like having a little slice of spring in the house, so i thought, why not?

So far I have a packet of BURPEE's Microgreens "rainbow blend"

This is what is in it:

Equal parts of: Beet Detroit Red, Cabbage Pak Choi, Kohlrabi Purple, Broccoli DeCiccio and Radish China Rose.

It says "as soon as plants have a few leaves, snip what you need for meals. Sow every two weeks for continuous harvests."

Now, since this sounds so easy to grow (and fast, supposed to start cutting at the base of the plant when they reach 2in) I just wondered if its all OK for my Greek to eat.
 

tortoisenerd

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
3,957
Location (City and/or State)
Washington
Here's my opinion:

Beet Detroit Red = beet greens good
Cabbage Pak Choi ?
Kohlrabi Purple = turnip greens good
Broccoli DeCiccio ?
Radish China Rose good

The turnip greens are excellent, and I've heard the beet and radish greens of being used, but broccoli and cabbage are usually bad (not sure about the greens though).

I have a cat pan of russian tortoise mix going, and I bought turnip green seeds to start (I tried to sprout a turnip and it didn't work so far). My dandelion is sprouting very slowly so I'm hopeful we can have a little harvest of that soon. I'm also hoping to grow a lot once it warms up. We've actually had sun the last couple days and my sprouts are taking off fast.

Best wishes and hoping for warmer weather.
 

Meg90

Active Member
10 Year Member!
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
Messages
1,961
Location (City and/or State)
WI
Thanks for the input kate....

image.jpg

That's Pak Choi all grown up.
Here is a sprout pic:
20080128-pak-choi.jpg


Here is a sprout pic of Broccoli De Ciccio:
BroccoliDeCiccoSeedling42days02-11-.jpg


Here's it all grown up:
waltham_29.jpg


Does this help? Would these two plants be ok fed as seedlings? It would be in smaller doses...its only 50% of the seedlings, and would not replace spring mix as a staple in his diet....
 

tortoisenerd

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
3,957
Location (City and/or State)
Washington
Pak Choi is bok choy. I've seen it on the bad list but can't find data on why it could be bad besides the high water content; if you're feeding the baby greens I don't see any problem.

The second one looks like broccoli rabe/rapini, which I seem to the leaves are ok, but can't find anything on right now. Hopefully someone can confirm or deny this. Regular broccoli is in the Goitrogenic category with kale and collard greens. Things in that category can cause goiter in large amounts, but I don't think you'd be approaching that. I feed my little guy kale as a small part of his diet since it has a good Ca : P and I can find it easily (I can get it organic by the small portion of a pound at the expensive store right by my house). I also supplement calcium.

I seem to remember that the baby plants of greens that may have properties that make them "bad", such as oxalic acid, have lower oxalic acid quantities in the baby plant.

http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/nutrientanalysis.htm
http://www.russiantortoise.org/russiantortoisediet.htm
http://www.turtlestuff.com/avoidthese.html
This site has pictures of tons of stuff: http://www.omorganics.org/page.php?pageid=157&contentid=151

I looked up beet greens again, and they are high in oxalic acid, but not as high as say spinach, and if you're feeding the baby greens in small amounts I think you're fine. Thanks for the help with identification!

Another good easy to find at the grocery store green is escarole. It tastes similar to romaine but has a higher Ca : P ratio. I started buying it for sandwiches, and feed Trevor some too. My local store even carries organic.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

New Posts

Top