Greens

This spring consider planting greens for an early crop of delicious and nutritious salad greens.  Greens are the edible leaves of plants and belong in a category all of their own because they are technically not vegetables.

Spring salad greens, cultivated and wild.

I grew up eating salads made with pale iceberg lettuce and covered in Western dressing. It was only when my daughter gave me a leaf of arugula she grew in her community garden plot, that I understood the full flavor greens have to offer.

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There is so much flavor and texture in greens; peppery arugula, spicy mustard greens, and crunchy golden purslane to name just a few.  A mixed greens salad is a perfect example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Each unique flavor compliments the other, creating more flavor and texture than any iceberg salad eater could ever hope to experience.

Greens are great for extending the growing season by providing fresh produce during the cool months of early spring and short fall days.  If you have a cold frame, even those living in Zone 4 can harvest into the winter months by planting cold hardy varieties in the fall.

Green Vit in a cold frame in early spring.

The earliest spring greens are Vit (which is also called Mache or Corn salad), Claytonia, Watercress, Minutina, Strawberry Spinach, and Winter Density lettuce.  These greens can be planted when the soil is as cool as 41 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing you to plant as soon as the soil can be worked.

Harvest Vit by cutting it just above the root keeping the rosette in one piece.

Since you are eating the leaves of the plant, the time from planting to harvest is much shorter than with crops that fruit or have edible roots.

If you live in gardening Zone 4, these greens can also be sown in the late fall when soil temperatures fall below 69 degrees.  If planted in a cold frame they can survive winter and then be ready to harvest in early spring.  We enjoyed our first fresh-from-the-garden salad greens in early April this year. In addition to the Vit we seeded last fall, our strawberry spinach wintered over and was a nice addition to the salad.

Add just a few wild mustard greens as they are a bitter green.

As the weather warms up, don't forget to toss in wild spring greens like chickweed, lambs quarter, lemony sheep sorrell, dandelion, and wild mustard greens to add interest and a big punch of vitamins and minerals to your salad. Wild greens on average have a higher nutritional content then their cultivated cousins.  

Dandelion and wild mustard are bitter greens which promote bile production and aid in digestion.  Used sparingly and paired with other strong tasting flavors, they are quite palatable.

Lambs quarter germinates when the ground is still very cool.

In the hot summer months, wild purslane is abundant and adds a nice crunch to salads and has the highest concentration of Omega 3 fatty acids of any edible plant.  

Wild purslane is plentiful in the hot summer months.

Arugula and beet greens add spice and color to salads and are easy to grow. The Bull's Blood variety of beets are grown specifically for their tops which taste the best when they are harvested young and small.

Johnny's Seed Company has the most extensive variety of greens that I have found.  I also like to order from Seed Savers because they sell heirloom varieties and are committed to protecting bio-diversity, which is a cause worthy of support.

Tips

• Most greens grow and taste best when the temperatures are cool; spring, early summer, and fall.  Kale and collard greens are good all summer long.

• Some greens like arugula, spinach, mustard greens and lettuce grow back after their tops are cut. These are great for an ongoing supply of greens.

• Adding mild greens, like Vit, chickweed, or even nettles to fruit smoothies is a tasty way to incorporate more greens in your diet.

• Consider making your own salad dressings.  It isn't as hard as it may seem once you figure out the basic ingredients and process.  Most salad dressings feature olive oil and vinegar.  (Hopefully a future blog post!)

• Make a salad with sun dried tomatoes, lightly sauteed sweet onions, and feta cheese on a bed of Vit and arugula, drizzled with a balsamic vinegar dressing for a tasty lunch.

Feta, sun dried tomatoes on a bed of Vit, wild mustard, and sorrell.

• A salad with crunchy and sweet Bosc pears, craisins, and pecans on a bed of mixed salad greens looks as good as it tastes.

• Beets, greens, and feta cheese also make a colorful and healthy salad.

• Some greens are great cooked as well as eaten fresh.  Cultivated crops of kale, collards, and beet greens are tasty cooked.  Wild greens like lambs quarter and nettle are great in soups or sauteed.

• Pesto can be made from more than just basil, experiment with cilantro, dandelion, amaranth, nettle, chickweed, plantain, and lamb's quarter. Recipes for pestos with medicinal qualities can be found in Rosemary Gladstar's book; Medicinal Herbs, A Beginner's Guide.

I hope this post encourages you to explore the world of greens!