In 2010, we did an Asian garden and in 2013 we did an Indian (Asia) garden. This year we wanted to reprise the theme while focusing on specifically southeast Asian / Chinese / Japanese vegetables.

As you can see, we have yet another garden with lots of different varieties and lots of complexity going on. Many oriental vegetables are cool season, which means they are either planted in the spring or fall (or both), which allows us to try many more varieties in one growing season.

1-5. We have a selection of herbs common in Asian cooking. FYI – Flowering Chinese Leek is just another name for Garlic Chives!

6. ‘Ladyfinger’ Okra is supposed to be smooth and tender even at larger sizes.

7. ‘Round Purple’ Eggplant is just that – a round, purple variety.

8. ‘Choryoku’ Eggplant is a long, narrow green variety.

9. ‘Fushimi’ pepper is a thin-skinned sweet Japanese pepper.

10. Winged bean is a variety that produces pea-like pods but with winged edges. It’s hard to describe, so you’ll just have to wait and see it!

11. ‘Tokita Scarlet’ Carrot is a red carrot variety.

12. ‘Hybrid Fuji’ kohrabi is a large, green variety.

13. ‘Hakurei’ Turnip is a white, salad-type turnip that is good for eating raw.

14. ‘Summer Top’ Cucumber is a burpless, oriental variety that produced 9-10″ long cucumbers and has good disease resistance.

15. ‘Purple Red Mart’ Long Bean is a long bean that will grow on a trellis and produce 15-18″ beans that are purple in color. We were especially interested in this variety because they are supposed to turn black when cooked. Yum!

16-18. Mizuna and Mustards – the mizuna is purple-veined to purple leaved (not pure seed lot) and the mustards are very finely frilled varieties that are a bit spicy and good for salads.

19. ‘Dok Hybrid’ Luffa is a luffa gourd that can also be eaten like a zucchini at the immature stage.

20. ‘Hybrid Golden Honey’ Melon is a yellow-skinned melon with floral white flesh.

21. ‘Green Lance’ Chinese Broccoli is not a head forming type of broccoli, but rather one that has lots of smaller shoots.

While it may seem like there are some strange things in this garden, many of them are similar to other plants we have grown in the past, so I’m pretty confident in their productivity. I will be honest that I’m already plotting what recipes I can try with all these vegetables though!