CHINESE CONTAINER GARDENS - Growing Chinese Vegetables in Your Own Backyard - page 197

Garland Chrysanthemum, page 17
Chrysanthemum coronarium
Grow garland chrysnathemums (shun-giku) instead of common garden chrysanthem-
ums, and you'll be able to have your flowers and eat them too. The combination of fra-
grance and flowers makes it a very attractive container vegetable. If you're willing to
dispense with most of the flowers — the greens are, after all, the main crop — you can
grow shungiku in a partially shaded spot, leaving your sunny areas for more demanding
plants. On a rooftop, protect it from the wind. This will do well in a sunny window or
under lights.
Plant in pots at least 4 inches in diameter in early spring. Larger pots give you larger
plants. In a big pot, shungiku could grow to 4 feet, but if you harvest the leaves when
the plant is 6 inches high it will never attain full growth. Harvesting or pinching off
the top makes plants bushier rather than taller. The greens are ready to harvest in about
30 days. Shungiku is pretty combined with lettuces and other low-growing greens in a
large, wide container.
Add fertilizer to your potting mix and fertilize again when seedlings are 3 inches
high. Once the flowers form, the foliage turns bitter and isn't as good to eat. If you want
shungiku to bloom, though, fertilize lightly when flowers form and every two weeks
thereafter.
Cilantro, page 128
Coriandrum sativum
This makes an attractive addition to any container or windowsill and will also grow un-
der lights. Tuck it in with other plants or grow it on its own. Cilantro doesn't like very
hot weather; in midsummer, relegate it to a partly shady spot on a terrace and move it
off a sunny windowsill. Or harvest the whole plant and start a new crop.
Sow seeds ½ inch deep in a pot that's 5 or 6 inches deep, or in a larger container
with other vegetables or herbs. A container of lettuces and herbs is particularly nice be-