Vegetable Gardening Page 18

  Loose-leaf lettuce

  Loose-leaf lettuce doesn't form a solid head and is best harvested by picking off the mature outer leaves, allowing new leaves to continue growing. This type is often cut and allowed to "come again" (I discuss this technique later in this chapter) to provide multiple crops of greens from one head. You can start harvesting this type about 45 days from seeding. Some popular varieties include the following:

  ‘Black Seeded Simpson': This widely adapted variety is an heirloom lettuce with crinkled, light green leaves. ‘Simpson Elite' is a more heat-resistant strain of this classic variety.

  ‘New Red Fire': This unusual, open-pollinated variety has extremely frilly, burgundy-red puckered leaves. It's slow growing and disease resistant.

  ‘Red Salad Bowl': This is a red version of the classic ‘Salad Bowl'. It's a loose-leaf, open-pollinated lettuce that features frilly green leaves and a mild, tender taste. This attractive burgundy-red-leafed version grows and looks best in cooler weather.

  ‘Royal Oak Leaf': An improved version of the old-fashioned oak leaf, the ‘Royal Oak Leaf' is open-pollinated, has bigger, more defined, darker green, deeply cut leaves and is slower to bolt, making it better for warm-weather growing.

  Popeye's Pal: Spinach

  Spinach is a Middle Eastern vegetable that has been cultivated for centuries. The dark green leaves of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) are nutritious (just ask Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Brutus of comic book fame) and stronger tasting than lettuce. It's one of the first crops many gardeners plant in spring. In fact, when the heat comes, spinach quickly bolts. However, if you love spinach and want to eat it throughout the summer, you can grow warm-weather spinach look-a-like crops that produce all summer, such as New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides) and Malabar spinach (Basella rubra). Though not in the spinach family, they have a similar look and taste.

  You can grow two different leaf types of spinach: savoy (crinkled) and smooth. Which is better is a matter of personal preference. The savoy-leaf types give you more leaf surface to hold that salad dressing, but the smooth-leaf types are easier to clean.

  Unless otherwise noted, the varieties in the following sections mature in about 30 to 45 days from a spring planting. As with lettuce (which I describe earlier in this chapter), you can always harvest the young, tender greens earlier if you just can't wait.

  Savoy spinach

  The following are popular savoy-type (crinkled-leaf) spinach varieties:

  ‘Bloomsdale Long Standing': This heirloom variety has thick-textured, glossy, crinkled, dark green leaves.

  ‘Melody': This hybrid, All-America Selections winner (AAS; see Chapter 4 for more) features large semi-savoy leaves and good disease resistance.

  ‘Tyee': This hybrid, slightly savoy-type is a vigorous grower. It's a personal favorite because it's easy to grow and slow to bolt.

  Smooth spinach and some spinachlike friends

  Following are a few smooth spinach varieties and a couple of good look-and-taste-alikes that are easy to grow:

  ‘Malabar Red Stem': Although this plant isn't botanically related to spinach, its vining red stems produce spinachlike leaves all summer. This heat lover grows to 6 feet tall, so it must be trellised and grown like a pole bean (see Chapter 7 for details on growing beans). It can be used as a spinach substitute raw or cooked.

  ‘New Zealand': This 1- to 2-foot-tall plant resembles spinach in looks and flavor, but it's able to withstand summer heat. It can be cut repeatedly and still regrow, a method called cut and come again. I talk more about this method later in this chapter.

  ‘Oriental Giant': This hybrid variety produces large, smooth, 12- to 15-inch-long leaves and yields up to three times more foliage than other spinach varieties.

  ‘Reddy': This smooth-leafed hybrid spinach variety has red stalks and veins that contrast nicely with its deep green, arrow-shaped leaves.

  ‘Renegade': This smooth-leafed hybrid spinach variety is faster growing and more disease resistant than the similar ‘Space' variety.

  The Attractive and Hardy Swiss Chard

  Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris) has finally come of age. With the recent introduction of more colorful varieties, this green is now a top specialty treat in many gardens. (Even Aristotle wrote about the virtues of this lovely plant!) Swiss chard hails from southern Europe, where it grew up next to its close cousin, the beet. In fact, the only differences between the two vegetables are that chard (sometimes known as "spinach beet") doesn't have the bulbous root of the beet, and its greens are more tender and prolific.

  I've grown Swiss chard for years because it has so many wonderful characteristics: It's easy to grow; doesn't bolt like spinach; has a consistent flavor, even in the hot summer; and has leaves that keep producing until frost. I also grow chard for the gorgeous color of its midribs (the middle part of the leaf). Varieties such as ‘Rhubarb' and ‘Bright Lights' make this garden green a real showstopper.

  The color of the midrib is evident even at a young stage, so picking them as baby greens still yields the attractive look. These colorful varieties look so beautiful I sometimes grow them as ornamentals in my flower garden.

  The following varieties all mature between 50 and 60 days from direct seeding in the garden, but the baby greens can be harvested as early as 1 month after seeding:

  ‘Bright Lights': This AAS-winning hybrid variety features a mix of plants with red, pink, yellow, gold, or orange midribs on leaves that taste as good as they look. These leaves have a milder texture than other chard varieties.

  ‘Bright Yellow': This open-pollinated variety's yellow midrib contrasts beautifully with the dark green leaves.

  ‘Fordhook Giant': This open-pollinated variety features a thick, celerylike midrib with large, dark green savoy (crinkled) leaves. It's a heavy producer.

  ‘Rhubarb': An heirloom, burgundy-red midrib variety with dark green leaves, this variety is a bit smaller than other chards, but it's still tasty and good looking.

  Mixing it up with mesclun

  Mesclun is a French term that means "mixture." It caught on in the 1990s as a way to enliven salads by mixing in various colored and flavored greens and has gone mainstream ever since. Mesclun isn't actually an individual green but a mix of different greens. The flavors can be mild to piquant, depending on the ingredients in the mix. You can purchase mild, savory, and spicy individual mesclun mixes to name a few. Traditional mesclun may include a blend of lettuces, endive, arugula, cress, dandelion, and mache. Today the list of possibilities has expanded to include herbs, kales, radishes, and Chinese greens such as mizuna and pac choi. You also can get mixtures of different colored and shaped lettuce varieties that offer a mild taste. And there are even microgreen mixtures (greens harvested when only 1 to 2 inches tall) that can be quickly grown and added to salads.

  The key to any of these flavorful blends is to harvest the greens when they're small and tender — while they're still "baby" size. This usually is within 3 weeks of seeding. Because most of these greens are cold-weather tolerant, mesclun is usually the first green harvested from my garden in spring. The greens quickly regrow after cutting for a number of harvests. The greens taste great doused with a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing.

  Going Wild with Specialty Greens

  Salad has gone through a revolution in the past 20 years. At one time, salad meant simply lettuce, spinach, and maybe Swiss chard. No longer. With the growing interest in exotic Chinese and European greens, salad palettes have expanded to include many ethnic greens, including arugula and mizuna (see Chapter 11 for more on these particular greens). Folks are even becoming interested in greens previously thought to be weeds, such as sorrel and — the scourge of lawn lovers — dandelions.

  Eating these wild greens isn't a new idea; in fact, when I was a boy, my Italian grandmother picked wild dandelion greens in spring to be sautéed with garlic and olive oil. I don't bother cultivating these greens in the garden; I just eat my lawn! It's loaded with dandelions, so
rrel, and plantain. Even my cultivated gardens have great annual weeds that I harvest young and mix in salads, including lamb's quarters, chickweed, and pigweed. I'm not alone; such culinary practices are being rediscovered and embraced as the interest in ethnic dishes grows.

  For many wild greens, you can just go into your garden or lawn and munch away, but never eat greens from lawns treated with pesticides.

  You have good reason to cultivate and enjoy unusual greens. In fact, many types aren't considered weeds, and you actually can cultivate them in your garden. Many of these are very easy to grow (some can even withstand freezing temperatures), they're more nutritious than traditional lettuce, and their flavors are unique and sometimes quite surprising.

  Many of the most popular and more mainstream specialty greens like endive are discussed in Chapter 11. But if you're curious about growing some of the wild ones, try a few of the eyebrow-raising varieties listed here. Most can be harvested starting about 1 month after direct seeding in the garden. (Seeding gives you better varieties and more control than just waiting for the weed to pop up.) You also can find many of these varieties commercially. Check out some of my favorites:

  Asian greens: This catch-all phrase refers to a number of different greens. I cover mizuna in Chapter 11, but here are some lesser-known types that are great eaten on their own or tossed into mesclun mixtures (see the nearby sidebar):

  • ‘Tatsoi' produces a tight rosette of mild-flavored leaves. It's a cool-season green.

  • ‘Komatsuna' has mild, fleshy, rounded dark green leaves with rounded stems. It tolerates heat well.

  • ‘Shungiku' is an edible chrysanthemum. The leaves are harvested when less than 8 inches tall and used in salads, sushi, and pickles. This variety likes cool weather.

  Miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata): Heart-shaped leaves encircle a white-flowered stem. This variety grows best in cool weather and regrows after harvesting. It's good planted in fall as a winter salad green.

  Dandelion: Yes, you can plant the same dandelions that dad has spent years pulling out or mowing over. Harvest them young during cool weather in spring or fall — when the leaves are about 4 to 6 inches long — so the greens are only slightly bitter. Varieties from France and Italy, such as ‘Ameliore', grow taller and are easier to harvest.

  Mache (corn salad or lamb's lettuce): This cool-weather-loving and cold-tolerant green features small, dark green, tender leaves in a rosette shape with a mild, nutty flavor. It's often the first green to start growing. Some varieties to try include ‘Vit' (especially good for cold and wet conditions) and ‘d'Etamps', which has large, rounded leaves.

  Mustard: These beautiful, 1- to 2-foot-tall, upright-growing, spicy greens grow best in cool weather and make a bold statement in the garden. They're great used in salad mixes. The spicy-hot, raw flavor mellows when cooked. Some of the best varieties include ‘Green Wave' (heavily curled, spicy green leaves), ‘Red Giant' (large, purple-tinted, mildly flavored leaves), and ‘Osaka Purple' (red, mildly flavored leaves that are more compact than 'Red Giant').

  Sorrel (Rumex sanguineus): The 8-inch-long, arrow-shaped greens start growing in early spring and continue until fall. They have a distinct, lemony flavor that's great in salads and soups. This green perennializes (comes back each year on its own) and can grow in light shade. A beautiful, red-tinged variety is ‘Red Veined' sorrel.

  Vegetable amaranth: This is a variety of the ancient grain amaranth that's harvested young for its oval-shaped, coleuslike leaves. The leaves may be all green, green-and-red colored, or all red, depending on the variety. These greens germinate best in warm weather.

  Growing Great Greens

  Fertile soil and consistent watering are essential to growing great greens. Given those two factors, greens have to be one of the easiest vegetables to grow. The biggest problem gardeners have with greens is too much success — in other words, an overabundant harvest that you can't eat! The following sections offer tips for getting the most out of your greens.

  Timing is everything: Determining when to plant your greens

  In areas with mild summers and winters, such as the West Coast, greens are easy to grow year-round. For most other areas, spring and fall are the best times to grow greens.

  Greens can be direct sown in the garden starting in spring and, in cool areas, planted throughout the summer until September. If you want to get a jump on the season, start seeds 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost date in your area (see the appendix for a listing of first and last frost dates) so they can be planted 2 to 3 weeks later.

  Gardeners in mild winter areas such as Arizona, Texas, and Florida may prefer a winter crop of greens because the weather is more favorable. Summer is too hot to germinate the seeds and grow the traditional types of lettuce and greens. For a winter crop, sow seeds indoors in fall to be transplanted into the garden a month later.

  If you don't have the right climate for year-round growing but love fresh greens, here are some guidelines for growing your own salad 12 months of the year in spite of cold winters and hot summers:

  Choose the right varieties. To grow a winter greens crop in cold-winter areas (hardiness zone 5 or 6) without season extenders (see Chapter 21), plant spinach, arugula, claytonia, mizuna, and winter lettuce varieties such as ‘Winter Density'. To grow greens through summer in warm areas (hardiness zone 7 and warmer) choose greens that like the heat, such as Malabar or New Zealand spinach.

  Time your planting. Start heat-loving greens in late spring so they mature during summer's heat. For winter greens in the cold areas, start cold-tolerant plants in fall so they mature to full size before the bitter cold weather of December. The greens don't have to grow during the short winter days and cold temperatures — they just need to stay alive.

  Keep the soil fertile. Successive crops of greens will take nutrients out of the soil, so after every crop you remove, add a 2- to 3-inch layer of compost to the soil and work it in well.

  Protect the plants. During the summer heat, use shade cloth to block the afternoon sun. In the North, protect greens through the cold winter by growing them in cold frames (see Chapter 21 for cold frame designs).

  Here are a couple of other tips for planting greens at the right time:

  Stagger your plantings to avoid producing too large a supply. I remember planting a 10-foot row of lettuce all at once, watching it germinate and grow, and feeling very smug about my success. My satisfaction evaporated when I was inundated a month later with lettuce, lettuce, and more lettuce. I got sick of eating salads for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and most of my crop eventually bolted and tasted bitter. I learned my lesson that year.

  Planting small, 2-to-4-foot patches of greens every 2 weeks throughout the growing season, which is referred to as succession planting (see Chapter 16), is the best way to ensure a manageable supply of lettuce all summer long. In warm areas, you may want to skip planting in midsummer because lettuce will bolt from the heat.

  Give crisphead lettuce the environment it needs to thrive. Growing great crisphead or iceberg lettuce can be a challenge for many gardeners. The problem is that crisphead lettuce likes cool temperatures (50 to 60 degrees) throughout the growing season, especially when it's trying to form a head. For northern and southern gardeners, fall planting is the key. In warm areas, start seeds indoors in September; then place the seedlings in the garden in October or November. In cooler climates, start seeds indoors in July to plant in the garden in August or September. Keep plants well watered and feed them every 3 weeks with fish emulsion (which I discuss later in this chapter). By the cool days of fall, your iceberg lettuce heads should form.

  Putting your greens to bed

  Greens are easiest grown in raised beds (see Chapter 3 for more on raised beds). The beds are flat and smooth on top with most of the rocks and debris removed. Raised beds drain water well, which greens love, and they're easy to work. Instead of planting in a straight row (which is okay, by the way), you can broadcast the seeds over the top of
the entire bed. This wide row planting technique is described in Chapter 13. By using the wide row planting technique, you get more greens per square foot sooner with less weeding and watering.

  If you don't have room for greens with all those other gorgeous vegetables growing, get creative about where you plant. Because greens plants are generally small and fast growing, you can tuck them in all kinds of empty patches in your garden. For example, you can plant greens in between newly planted tomato, broccoli, or cabbage seedlings; under a pole bean teepee; between rows of corn; or around carrots in the carrot patch. The greens mature and are harvested before the other plants get too large to shade them. In the carrot patch, harvesting the greens gives room for these root crops to enlarge and mature. In summer, after your crop of beans or peas is finished, yank out the exhausted plants and plant a quick crop of lettuce to harvest later in late summer or fall.

  Adding nitrogen-rich fishy fertilizer

  Greens have simple fertilizing needs. You eat the leaves. Leaves need nitrogen to grow. So the soil needs to be rich in nitrogen. Any questions? That being said, it's important to remember balance in all things, including fertilizer in your lettuce patch. So applying an organic fertilizer, such as blood meal, that's high in nitrogen is a good practice. (Chapter 15 provides more information on organic fertilizers.) I suggest working in a 3- to 4-inch layer of compost and applying soluble nitrogen fertilizer, such as fish emulsion, every few weeks. By doing so, your greens stay lush and mature quickly.