Last harvest of the season

With our recent bout of frosty weather, I decided it was time to harvest the vestiges of the warm season crops still hanging on for dear life in my veggie garden.

All told, I procured a small batch of purple tomatillos, a couple Serrano chilies, and a few New Mexico chilies. Already used the New Mexico chilies in a turkey meatloaf day before yesterday (delish!), but not sure if there are enough tomatillos to make a decent salsa verde. May have to supplement with the store-bought variety.

I had planted a bunch of "Shao Bai Tsai" (i.e., "little white cabbage") from seed a month ago,  and they are now about 2 inches high. One of my favorite greens as a youngster in Taiwan. The cool weather seems to be keeping their growth in check.

If you are looking for a local source of Asian vegetable seeds, check out www.evergreenseeds.com, a mail-order seed company located in Anaheim, CA. They offer over 350 varieties of Asian vegetable seeds, including a great selection of Taiwanese favorites like  small Chinese Cabbage (what I call 'Shao Bai Tsai' or 'little white cabbage'), Taiwan Coriander, 'Ping Tung Long' Eggplant, Chinese celery, and Taiwan basil.

12/6/09 Left to right: New Mexico Chilies, Purple Tomatillos, Serrano Chilies

Also got some ripening citrus crops at this time, including Meyer Lemons, Moro Blood Oranges, Meiwa Kumquats, and a ton of those diminutive Mexican Limes.

12/5/09 'Meiwa' Semi-Dwarf Kumquat (Fortunella crassifolia)

12/8/09 'Shao Bai Tsai' (Brassica campestris var. chinensis). The seed package is labeled as 'Small Chinese Cabbage', but a better translation is 'Little White Cabbage'.