Brassicas
Kohlrabi
The fast one; first brassica to the table.
- Indoors
- 6 wk (Jul)
- Outside
- Transplant Sep 1-20
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Daily while roots take; even after, or bulbs go woody
- Harvest
- Oct to Nov, at tennis-ball size
Care
- Water
- Daily while the September transplants root out, then taper to the returning rains. Even moisture is the one secret after that: a dry stall turns the bulb woody and cracks it, and a fall bulb still meets warm September days before the cool settles.
- Sow
- In cells in July with the rest of the brassica bench, 2 seeds a quarter inch deep per cell, keep the stronger; here it is a transplant crop, named on the county's July list. Set plants six to eight inches apart September 1 to 20.
- Start inside
- No heat mat and no fuss: warm July soil sprouts them in days, and the bench asks only sun with afternoon shade and steady moisture. The quickest plant on it, usually ready for the bed first.
- Feed
- A quick, hungry crop: compost at transplant, then a light side-dress as the bulb starts to swell, since steady feed keeps it tender. Nothing in the July-August heat; the whole crop runs on the cool side of the year.
- Ready
- Pull at tennis-ball size, two to three inches across, without sentiment: golf ball is tender, softball is regret. September-set plants size up through the cool October days and hold sweet in ground that never freezes solid.
- Trouble
- Woody, cracked bulb: a water stall or a bulb left oversizing, so keep it even and pick on time. Flea beetles stipple the young plants and cabbageworms sample the leaves; a stretch of netting over the new bed covers both at once.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 3–5 gal bag.
- Water
- Every day or two in a dry fall spell; a checked bag plant is a woody bulb, and bags check faster than beds.
- Feed
- Top-dress monthly; every watering leaches the bag.
- Sow
- Three or four plants per 3 to 5 gallon bag; the fast fall crop is the easiest brassica to bag.
The fast one of the fall brassica bench: July-sown like its cousins, first to the table, a crisp swollen stem pulled at tennis-ball size in the cool.
Growing
The county's July transplant list is the citation that keeps kohlrabi in the roster, on the family's fall-only terms: cells in July, the bed September 1 to 20, bulbs sizing through the cool October days. It is the quickest of the six and wants the least room, six to eight inches. Steady water is the entire secret, since checked plants go woody, and September heat makes the first three weeks the careful part of the crop. Harvest at tennis-ball size without sentiment; the bulbs hold sweet in ground that never freezes, but the young ones are the point, and a sputnik of a vegetable eaten straight off the knife is the reward for the discipline.
Varieties
The Travis County list for Central Texas names Early Purple Vienna, Early White Vienna and Kolibri, and no state source carries kohlrabi further than that. The choice stays among the three, which is no hardship at seven weeks a crop.
Pests
Flea beetles stipple the young plants and cabbageworms sample the leaves, though the swollen stem itself goes untouched; netting the new bed covers both at once. The bigger risk is a water stall in September, which turns a would-be bulb woody before it ever swells.
In the kitchen
Peel thick and eat raw: matchsticks, slaw, or slices straight off the knife with salt, the vegetable most often finished before it reaches a recipe. Wedges roast well too, the winter garden's roasting crop in miniature alongside the family's heads.