NDSU conducts vegetable tests throughout N.D.

If I were capable of filling two bodies and living two lives, then one would have to have been as a horticulturalist as well as artist. Writing, art, cooking and digging in the dirt define the great loves of my life and the lives of many others. Before starting college, life was in a newsroom, flower shows, catering and gardening. Many of those activities overlap easily with children on hand (or lap, or whatever) and accommodating the kids was a part of life for us all.

One activity we did in the early 1970s was to do a research growing trial for Rodale Press, the organization that publishes Prevention magazine and other back-to-earth type books and magazines.

It was to test the limits of water retention and the growth of a grain plant called amaranth. The Aztec grain was used more than a millennium ago and was found still viable sealed in storage containers near burial sites in south and central Americas.

The challenge was to plant three grains per hole one yard apart, times 24.

Each hole had a post set in the hole with foot and half/foot markings for 6 feet above ground. Each hole received a gallon of water when planted and a variety of mulches once the seeds sprouted. The strongest of the seeds was retained and the weakest snipped off. No water was given afterward. In Georgia it gets above 100 frequently in summer and the grains produced well over 6 feet high with the plumes of seeds at the top. One gallon of water and that was it. Leaves were measured, counted and weighed and the plumes the same. Each plant produced grain but the white seeded variety produced the greatest quantity and tasted the best.

When NDSU announced it was conducting growing trials for Asian vegetables here in North Dakota, it was a natural fit. I sent off for the seeds (I chose two radishes and two greens related to the mustard family. The packet, complete with planting instructions, labels and a 10-foot string to keep the rows straight were inside, as was a sheet for recording growth stage comparisons and opinions on growing, tasting and preference.

Mine went in Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 7 p.m. I am keeping records as asked but also my own regarding water, temperatures outside day and night and bugs.

The two comparisons include the prettiest of the vegetable selection offered for the trials: a set of pink interior radishes and a pink exterior radish and a purple “greens” and a reddish “greens.” As an artist I wanted something attractive to look at and as a curious kitchen chemist, I wanted something that holds its color and shape when prepared for the table.

Because each is a cool weather producer the seeds germinated within six days and hopefully will continue in growth right through frosts (Dr. Tom Kalb included first/last expected frosts with the seeds). These may become edible additions next year to the flower borders. Like purple and chartreuse green-hearted flowering kale, these are both lovely to look at and a beautiful addition to the dining room table.

If anyone has an item for this column, please send to Sharon Cox, PO Box 1559, Jamestown ND 58402-1559.

Tags: in the area, community, horticulture, vegetables, ndsu