May 13, 2011 The Delta Optimist A27
leisure&lifestyles gardening
Vary your harvest with leafy greens Veggies are good for wraps, salads
Green Room Leafy green vegetables can give you a longer and more varied harvest than any other food plants — and the ways these leaves can be used has widened in the last few years to include smoothies and wraps as well as salads. Most leafy greens tolerate part shade and many are cut-and-come again. Both these characteristics make them very useful in containers on partly-shady balconies, especially since all the major pests of green leaves (slugs, flea beetles, aphids and leaf miners) seldom trouble apartment gardens. In-ground gardeners aren’t so lucky. Row covers are good protectors where the gardener feels flying insects are doing intolerable damage. But row covers aren’t cheap and need to be cleaned and stored very carefully if they are to last two or three years. Slug-infested gardens have special challenges because row-plantings make plants an easy meal. For instance, a slug can chomp down a row of leafy
seedlings in a single night. Many organic people prefer to dot vegetable plantings in isolated groups all over the food garden. This protects against disease transfer and insects and is effective if slug numbers are low. Where slugs are a major problem, gardeners might find it best to have all the leafy green veggies in one spot where hand-picking or alternative slug control can be more concentrated — a raised bed edged with copper tape is one good protection. A leafy green that slugs dislike is arugula. This is a fast-growing spring and fall crop that loves moist, cool weather. Young leaves are nicely peppery but old leaves are burningly hot. Corn salad is another cool-weather crop that survives mild frost, though it won’t grow in winter unless you protect it. The leaves form a rosette pretty enough for a flower garden and the sturdy leaves are quite pest-resistant. It likes very rich soil. Mustard also needs early spring or late summer planting. Young leaves taste mild but, like arugula, the older leaves are fiery-tasting. Many lettuces also prefer cool spring or fall weather. The best types for cut-andcome again are Cos and
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Romaine lettuce. But for summer use, it’s important to plant heat-resistant lettuce such as Lollo Rossa or Red Oakleaf. Even these two do best in shade. For fall planting, the heirloom lettuce Winter Density is a useful choice. Tall leafy greens such as kale can be harvested repeatedly if you just cut a few leaves at a time. The heritage kales such as Red Russian and Hungry Gap are especially useful because they have impressive cold resistance. Another leafy vegetable that is harvested well into the fall is Swiss chard. The leaves can be stirfried and the stems can be sliced small and steamed. Some chards, such as the red Rhubarb Chard or the multi-coloured Bright Lights are very pretty. For hot summers, New Zealand spinach thrives when other crops bolt and dry out. This makes everenlarging mats of small, succulent green leaves from late July to frost. Then there’s the nasturtium. The leaves are a peppery treat in salad, the flowers can be eaten and so can the immature seed pods. Anne Marrison is happy to answer garden questions. Send them to her via amarrison@shaw.ca.
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