Sow A Wide Variety Of Salad Greens, And Sow Often

There are two mistakes that both neophyte and experienced gardeners make when planning and executing a salad or “greens” garden.

The first is not planning for the inevitable time when it gets warm, very warm, and many of these crops begin to flower and set seed while the foliage we’re after gets leathery and off taste. The second common mistake is in using very limited varieties when there are so many choices of greens and salad makings from around the world that will do well out here.

This week I’ll clue you in on better ways to beat the heat and keep those delicious leaves coming for months and months, and we’ll look at the various greens families of plants that will liven up your salads with new tastes, new textures and lots of color.

Many of the lettuces and other greens that we grow are cool-season crops, and we can do great with these when they are planted or seeded in late April and are harvested through mid-to late June. But then Mother Nature kicks in, and with the warmer days these heat-sensitive plants get the signal that it’s time to flower, set seed and die. And while you can try to stall this process, referred to as “bolting,” you simply can’t stop this genetic imperative. The best you can do is put it off for days or a few weeks at most.

From the very beginning, you should be sowing succession crops of greens. Ten days after your first sowing or planting, do it again, and again another 10 days later again. Know how long your particular varieties will take until the first harvest, how long that harvest can be expected to last and then have fill in varieties. We’ve been able to do block plantings of several cut-and-come-again lettuces with three or four 10-day sowings from April through late May.

I’ve found several mixes from Renee’s Garden that have done really well during this time slot, and then again for a late-summer and into fall crop, but even then, sown every 10 days. The Baby Leaf Lettuce Heirloom Cutting Mix is a colorful blend of old types of leaf lettuces that are tasty as well as colorful. Keep in mind that our salad plot is small, only about 4 feet wide and 10 feet long, and I’ll start with just one section of this mix, which I’ll resow a week or so later.

Next to this plot and sown at the same time is Renee’s Gourmet Mesclun Salad Asian Baby Leaf. This mix adds more color, different textures and a bit of a bite that includes komatsuna, mizuma, mustard (mild green and red), rocket, tatsoi and Chinese cabbage. Remember, though, that these need to be harvested when only 4 to 6 inches tall to get the best flavors. A second mesclun blend like Baby Mesclun Lettuces Cut and Come Again can be mixed in or sown as its own block. Keep spacing in mind if you are gardening on the compact side, and instead of 2-foot-wide blocks, 18- or 12-inch blocks will work as well.

These mixes do better when planted in blocks as opposed to rows, and we’ve really given up on row planting our greens since the blocks seem to be much more productive and tend to block out weeds. Plus, since it’s a dense planting, there’s slightly less urgency to water as the sun doesn’t really bake the soil.

The block planting method doesn’t seem to work as well with spinaches, and these get planted in rows that run around the block-planted greens. This means hand sowing, but the seeds are generally large enough to make easy “drops” every inch or so. About 10 days to two weeks after seeding, the rows can be thinned to every 5 or 6 inches. However, even the plants left behind to fill in should still be picked to ensure that new leaves will emerge.

Remember that spinaches are heavy feeders and will use more water than the lettuces. A light side watering with an organic fertilizer high in nitrogen will be beneficial every two to three weeks after planting. Feed the soil, though, and not the foliage. We’ve had good success with Baby Leaf Spinach Catalina and Baby Salad Spinach Regiment. Each has a different texture and leaf shape. More spinaches are noted below.

The last item I add to our early- and late-planted blocks is Renee’s Heirloom Italian Kale Tuscan Baby Leaf. This gets sown thickly in blocks and harvested when the foliage is 4 to 5 inches tall. The leaves are tender, unlike other kales, and they have a sweeter, milder taste than the larger fall kales.

These are the varieties that we’ve liked, but remember there are many others and Renee’s is not the only vendor. Johnny’s Selected Seeds also has a great selection, and as I’ve noted, one of the most outstanding catalogs and libraries if you need help.

For those wanting to experiment further and broaden your salad palette, here are some more suggestions. Most of the greens come from the Asteraceae family, including lettuces and dandelions, but this group also has the chicories like endive and radicchio that are perennials and will add a savory to bitter flavor to your salads. In the Amaranthaceae family there are the spinaches and while a true annual there are varieties that can be planted in early fall then overwintered in a cold frame or covered with hay.

The Brassicaceae family gives us a group of plants with great nutritional values and includes greens like arugula. This is also called “rocket” and has become a favorite green known for its spicy flavored foliage. Next come the kales, which are cruciferous vegetables that offer more nutritional benefits. Last in the group are the mustards, whose greens offer a zestiness and color to salads. Careful not to let the mustards bolt and flower. They will show up in unexpected places when they go to seed.

Going beyond the more traditional greens, try some Asian greens or Asian mixes. These are great in salads and many use them in stir fries. Here we have celtuce, Chinese cabbage, komatsuna, kai-lan/gai lan/Chinese kale, choy sum, bok choy, Shanghai and Canton all described in Johnny’s catalog as well as dozens of leaf and head lettuces.

Other greens to consider include Johnny’s Cheap Frills Mix, which has a great blend of frilly leaf greens with red and green colors as well as variations. Oceanside is a dark green spinach with thick round/oval foliage and it can be used as a baby leaf or allowed to grow to full size. Seaside is another spinach that I’ve been hearing a lot about as it seems to bolt later and has great flavor. Eazyleaf lettuce includes several varieties that can be grown to maturity or used as a one cut for salads. You can get these from Harris Seeds, and they have a video on them here: https://bit.ly/3uq8dTw.

Marciano is a compact red butterhead with nice buttery leaves that show a deep burgundy exterior and an interior of bright green leaves. Jara is a dark green romaine-type that produces compact heads and is slow to bolt, so it’s great for a fill-in later in the season. Eliance is a heat tolerant, smooth leaved, self blanching escarole (endive). This would be an easy-to-grow introduction to the chicories with tasty, tender leaves. Redbor is a tall kale with impressive purple color. This variety will mature later in the season and has deeply serrated leaves and strong stems. It’s a great choice for the cooler months (into the fall) and the color heightens and flavor sweetens with the first frost.

Many, many more choices here, and remember that the seed racks in the garden centers only have a fraction of what’s available, but they are the perfect starting point. Sow early, sow often and have a plan. If you’re timid, use pelletized seed or seed tapes, but that reduces your options by about 90 percent. Experiment, and save leftover seed in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator. Don’t forget your radish and beet leaves. Wonderful when young. Share your bounty with those less fortunate. And of course, keep growing.