Great Greens!

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BOK CHOY

The last garden green on our list is the oriental vegetable bok choy (Brassica chinensis). This many—named plant (it's often called celery cabbage, Chinese mustard, Pak Choi, white cabbage, and—along with several other vegetables—Chinese cabbage) is an excellent, but not very hardy, spring/fall green. Bok choy's a "two for one" potherb, too, because the plant's crunchy stems and its graceful leaves make great eating.

Although bok choy is as versatile as any other garden green, it's mainly renowned for its use in such Chinese dishes as stirfried vegetables. To create this singlecourse dinner, fry up some onion and ginger slices—with a small amount of oil—in a hot skillet or wok. (At this point, if you want some meat in your dish, add thinly sliced beef or pork to the pan, and allow the meat to cook for a few minutes before you add the greens.) Then toss diagonally sliced bok choy—and whatever other compatible vegetables you might have on hand—into the sizzlin's. Remember while you're doing this to follow the basic law of stir-fry cookery: The longer a particular victual takes to become "crispy tender", the earlier you add it to the pan.

When your last ingredient's done just right, top the entire mix with a soy sauce and honey combination (mix the two ingredients to taste) and then immediately serve the stirtried treat over hot steamed rice. Scrumptious!

GREENS, GREENS, GREENS

We've now covered most of the best known cultivated greens, but there're still plenty of other domesticated potherbs available to the gardener as well. What's more, I've completely left out the zillions of delectable wild greens ... such as watercress, winter cress, purslane, amaranth, dandelion, burdock (seeds for home-growing these particular species can be had from many major garden supply companies), lamb'squarters, curled dock, plantain, fireweed, wood sorrel, wild grapes, shepherd's purse, and many others. The "untamed" greens are just as tasty—and fully as nutritious—as those garden-raised potherbs ... yet many backyard growers will spend hours weeding food plants like purslane and amaranth out of their gardens!

With all that wide variety of greens to choose from—and all the tasty ways to prepare 'em—I think every home gardener should have some of the leafy plants in his or her diet. And not just the "same old greens" you may have grown (or even foraged) before, either. Experiment with new potherbs. It's fun, healthful, and—best of all—delicious!

EDITOR'S NOTE: To find out where you can order starter seeds for the many delectable greens Ms. Allan mentions, see the seed catalog listings in MOTHER's Seed Company "Wishbook" Guide,on page 174 of this issue.

For those interested in learning how to identify wild greens, Lee Peterson's A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America (Houghton Mifflin Company, $8.95) is one of the best.

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