This member of the cabbage family
Is not only very delicious & healthy
Its also very easy to grow
Let's look at growing Kohlrabi
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So in today's episode, we'll be looking at
A variety of Kohlrabi called White Vienna
This is an early maturing variety of Kohlrabi
And one of the most common varieties of Kohlrabi that you would find around you
You can start Kohlrabi from seeds very easily
You need to sow seeds directly in the ground
You can even buy Kohlrabi plants which are available for sale in your local garden center
As your Kohlrabi plants are growing, you will need to use a good fertilizer
So you could either side dress with compost and manure
Which will give a lot of Nitrogen
Or you could use a well balanced fertilizer
You could also use Blood Meal which is an excellent source of Nitrogen
Now the way Kohlrabi gets its name is from Germany
In German, Kohl is called a cabbage and Rabi is a variety of turnip
So the Kohlrabi fruit or the vegetable or the main part of the Kohlrabi
Actually looks like a turnip
And as it grows, you can see that it takes a very unique shape
Of being a turnip and then also sending out these greens or leaves around it
Most Kohlrabi plants mature in about 60-90 days
And a lot of people wait too long to harvest their Kohlrabi
You need to harvest the Kohlrabi early
As soon as you see that they are about a small apple sized fruit
And what that will do is it will give you the best flavor out of your Kohlrabis
It will be very tender, juicy, very pleasant to eat
If you wait too long to harvest your Kohlrabi
You're gonna get a very hard and thick skinned fruit
Which you will have to chop off and throw away most of it
So this is the Early White Vienna variety of Kohlrabi that you're seeing
All of these are the same variety
And this variety is really easy to grow
It's almost free of any insects or diseases
I was very surprised that the insects and diseases never were a problem growing Kohlrabi
So once you harvest the Kohlrabi, you can remove the roots
So that you get the fruit
And Kohlrabi fruit is edible
As well as the leafy greens are edible
Now the way you would use your leafy greens is as a substitute for either Collards or
Kale
You could just chop them up and put them in your salad
And that makes a great salad
Now Kohlrabi fruit can be eaten either raw or cooked
I actually prefer to eat the vegetable just raw, just like that
The fruit part of the Kohlrabi is really nice, fleshy and soft
And provided you harvest it at the right time
It will be really soft and nice
So you take off the skin from the outer part
The skin is usually very tough
So in almost about all cases, you will be removing the skin of the Kohlrabi
And once you remove the skin, you will see the actual Kohlrabi fruit
Which is soft and tender
Now once again, do not wait for your Kohlrabis to become really big
Because you might get bigger sized fruit by doing that
But then the quality of the Kohlrabi will deteriorate
So you can throw away the skin
And then chop it up
And then I'm just gonna try this Kohlrabi raw
This looks really nice and juicy
[crunching sound]
The Kohlrabi actually tastes a little sweet and a little mild compared to a radish
And you'll love this taste of Kohlrabi
So I hope you liked this video of growing Kohlrabi
There are other varieties of Kohlrabi
Which I will try to cover in other videos
There's a purple variety of Kohlrabi as well
So this year, give it a try
Try growing Kohlrabi
Its a cool season crop that can be grown from winter thru early Spring
And I'll see you again soon
In another episode of California Gardening
Until then...Happy Gardening!
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