We love these! In fact we have been eating them every Sunday for about a month now. COLLARD ROLLS (In Crock-Pot) Ingredients 20 collards leaves (reserve liquid from the slightly cooked leaves) 1-pound baby cut carrots (slightly cooked) ½ cup precooked rice according to package 3 Yukon golden potatoes (slightly cooked) Approximately 3 pounds ground meat (80% lean ground chuck beef) 2 cans 10-3/4 oz CampbellÂs tomato soup 3 eggs The following four ingredients are what I had available (in season) to add, you can add whatever you may have available that sounds good, instead of the following: ½ cup chopped broccoli raabs 1/8 cup chopped garlic scapes 1/8 cup chopped scallions 1/8 cup chopped beet leaves 1/8 cup seasoning mix of choice 1/3 cup breadcrumbs 1/3 cup ketchup Cooking time in large crock pot  6 hours on low Prepare rice, carrots, and potatoes as above and set aside. Trim off the thick back part of stem of the collards as you would the cabbage leaves to make cabbage rolls. Place the collard leaves in water and heat just a few minutes. Reserve 2 cups liquid from cooked leaves; to this mix add the 2 cans of tomato soup. Combine broccoli raab, garlic scapes, scallions, and beet leaves mix together and add 1/8 cup to the meat mixture, reserve remaining to be added in to liquid mixture in crock-pot at the end. Place in large bowl ground meat and combine the following: eggs, seasoning of choice (we have our own special seasoning mix that we use), breadcrumbs, ketchup and rice. Mix together. Add the above 1/8 cup (reserve) of broccoli raabs, garlic scapes, etc. and mix. To form collard rolls place meat mixture on the large end of leaf and roll up set each roll aside until all leaves are used. If there is left over meat, roll as a meatball. Place some carrots & potatoes on the bottom of the crock-pot. Add some liquid mixture. Then place a layer of collard rolls. Keep alternating carrots, potatoes, and liquid mixture then the collard rolls until all are used up. May also be cooked in oven at 375 degrees for 1-1/2 hours (approximately) until done.

My first thought on seeing the lighter green plants was something like a mustard green. Broccoli plants more often have some wavy indentations of the leaf margins than shows here. About the number of days -- that will vary with the season. Going into shorter daylight will slow them a bit. May have to wait a bit to see which is which.

Mmmm...when it comes to veggies, I often think Indian: Rasedar (vegetables in cumin scented tomato gravy) 2 T ghee or vegetable oil 1 t cumin seeds 1 T peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger 1 T ground coriander 1 1/2 t ground cumin 3/4 t ground tumeric 1/2 t cayenne pepper 1 c (5 oz) peeled, chopped boiling potatoes 2 tomatoes, pureed 2 c chopped mixed veggies 2 c water or chicken stock 1 1/2 t salt, or to taste 1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro Over a medium high heat, saute the cumin seeds until they turn dark brown (about 15 seconds). Stir in the ginger, ground coriander, ground cumin, turmeric and cayenne. Stir for a few seconds and then add potatoes, tomatoes, vegetables, water or stock and salt. Bring to a boil over a high heat, reduce to low, cover and cook until the vegetables are quite soft, about 15 minutes. With the back of a spoon, crush some of the vegetables to thicken the sauce. Correct for seasonings, and serve sprinkled with cilantro...if you loathe cilantro, some parsley or mint would be nice...maybe fresh dill) (For your purposes, I would use a mixture of cauliflower, broccoli, yams and peppers for this dish) Punjabi Cabbage 1/2 onion, roughly chopped 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped 1 or 2 green chili (such as serrano), seeded chopped (optional) 4 T ghee or veg oil 1 t cumin seeds 1 t ground tumeric 1 lb green cabbage, finely shredded 1 t salt 1/2 t black pepper 2 t ground cumin 1 t ground coriander 1/4 t chili powder 1 T butter Put the onion, garlic, ginger and chilies in a food processor and chop until finely chopped but not a paste. Heat the ghee or oil over low heat and fry the onion mixture until it softens. Add the cumin seeds and turmeric to the pan and stir for one minute. Mix in the cabbage, and mix well. Add salt, pepper, ground cumin, coriander and chili powder. Stir to coat the cabbage, then cook for 10 minutes, partially covered, stirring occasionally until the cabbage is soft. If the cabbage starts sticking to the pan you can add a tablespoon or so of water. Stir in the butter and add salt to taste. Radish Salad 1 1/2 c small radishes, quartered 1 T oil 1/4 t cumin seeds 1/4 t mustard seeds (preferably brown, but yellow is fine) pinch of asafoetida (you can sub a pinch of garlic powder) 1/4 t ground turmeric 1/4 t salt 1 T lemon juice 2/3 c roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped Heat oil over medium heat. Add cumin and mustard seeds, cover and shake the saucepan until the seeds start to pop. Add the asafoetida, turmeric and salt to the pan and remove from heat. Add lemon juice and allow to cool. Just before serving, arrange the radishes and peanuts in a bowl, pour the dressing over and mix thoroughly. Radish Leaf Soup If your radish leaves are fresh, I would start with a cream of radish leaf soup. I don't really have a recipe as I just make it, but... Chop a smallish onion, a stick of celery and a large peeled potato, diced small in butter over a medium heat until the veggies soften and are just starting to turn golden. Add 4 c of chicken or vegetable stock, bring to a boil and reduce to a fast simmer. While the vegetables are simmering, sort your leaves, discarding any that are yellowed. Wash them very well and chop coarsely. If you don't have at least 2 cups of packed leaves, augment them with some frozen spinach or other green. You didn't say whether your carrots had greens, those would be ideal. When the veggies are soft, add the greens and cook until softened, but still bright green. Puree the mixture in a blender or with a stick blender and add a cup or two (to taste) of half and half or if you're feeling really decadent, heavy cream. Season with white pepper and salt to taste. This will not make a really thick soup, relying as it does on the potato and pureed veggies for thickening so if you really prefer cream soups to be thick, you can thicken it with roux at the stage just before you add the greens...you don't want to cook the greens too long and lose that fresh flavor. Pomegranate Raita 2 c good quality, plain yogurt (preferably NOT low fat) 1 or 2 pomegranates...depending on size. (You should have about 3/4 c seeds to mix in, a couple of tablespoons for garnish, and a couple more tablespoons to make a bit of juice.) 1/2 c thinly sliced green onions (or more or less, depending on your taste for onions) 1 t salt 1 t sugar Mix the pomegranate seeds, onions, salt and sugar with the yogurt, reserving the ones for garnish and juice. Squeeze the ones you reserved for juice carefully and add the juice to the raita (mostly to give it a nice, pink color). Sprinkle the reserved seeds on top. I often add julienne mint or cilantro to this raita, occasionally toasted cumin/mustard seeds. Some people add chilis to their raita, but I generally want it as a cooling agent when I serve spicy hot curries or dals so I leave that out. This raita will go well served on the side of your vegetables in the tomato gravy, especially if you make it spicy. By the way, in case you don't already know this...the easy way to take apart your pomegranates is in a large bowl of water. Under water, cut out the blossom end. Then using your thumbs in the hole, pull the fruit apart and start to break up the sections and push the seeds out. The good seeds will sink, and the membrane and pith float. Easier to separate them that way, and not as messy! How about some Carrot Halva for dessert? 2 lbs carrots, coarsely grated 4 c milk 1/3 c ghee or veg oil 1 c sugar 2/3 c raisins (I like dried cranberries for this) 1 t cardamom seeds, finely ground 1/2 c slivered almonds ground cardamom Simmer the carrots in the milk until the carrots are tender and the milk evaporates. This must be done slowly or the mixture will burn. Add the ghee or oil and cook until the carrots start to brown. Add sugar and cook until the mixture is thick and dry. Add raisins, cardamom and almonds. Serve hot in small bowls, with whipped cream or ice cream and sprinkle with ground cardamom. There, all you need is basmati rice on the side. I would probably add a simple dish of dal as well, since I have a hard time eating Indian food without it. Did I miss anything?

Here we plant collards year round. If planted in early spring, they grow all summer and you can crop off the leaves from the bottom of the plant to eat. As you harvest the leaves, the soil is hilled up around the main stalk. The plants will continue to root along the stalk. They will grow through summer, fall and most usually grow right through winter. We usually add a bit of 10-10-10 and compost every so often during the hilling process to feed them. They can get huge. Around April or May they will send up yellow flowers and make little pods full of seed, which you can save. By planting in spring you can have collards all year. I usually harvest lots for my chickens as well. They LOVE them! You can also plant them late summer, early fall and they will grow through winter but you will have smaller plants. No matter when I plant here, they make seed April or May. They really can take the heat and cold. Tough plants. BT will take care of the cabbage worms that also love them. Here's our collard patch. Plants were started early spring and this pic was taken 6-24-17. Good luck with your garden!