Planting Green Vegetables, A Flash of Green Garden

Greens are the greatest. I doubt that any other group of vegetables provides so much good eating for so little effort. From small sections of wide rows, you’ll be able to create salads of all kinds, from early spring to late fall. The long harvest is a big reason I like greens so much. They keep my garden going long after frost has nipped my last tomatoes, beans, and corn.

Greens fit in everywhere. More and more people are growing them in their flower beds, along walks and driveways, and in all sorts of containers.

Most of the greens grow quickly, which makes them perfect for spot planting. Whenever an area of the garden opens up, sprinkle in some lettuce or chard seeds, cover them with a little soil, and walk away. The only way to grow greens is in wide rows, and if you harvest your greens “crew cut” style, you’ll get repeat harvests as tasty as the first without the bother of making another planting.

Beet and turnip tops make excellent greens, too, but I’ve put them with the other root crops.

Cool weather greens

These crops do best and are tastiest when you plant them early in the spring and then again in late summer for a fall harvest. They don’t like hot weather, but they will grow in shady areas during the warm months. . .next to your asparagus bed, near a corn patch, along the side of the shed, or under your pole bean tepees.

• Celery
• Lettuce
• Endive
• Mustard
• Kale
• Spinach

Heat-tolerant greens

A few greens are downright productive during the hot summer months when others have gone to seed or are getting bitter. Where summers are very hot it’s a good idea to give these crops a little shade.

• Chard
• Collards
• New Zealand spinach

Fertilize after crew cut harvest

Many greens are best harvested by cutting them to an inch above the ground. It’s so easy, and you can fill a harvest basket in a minute.

What’s even better is that the plants will quickly put on new growth, which means another tasty harvest for you. Sometimes after giving part of the row a crew cut, I sprinkle dehydrated manure or other natural fertilizer around the plants. The next rain will carry the nutrients into the soil to provide some pep for the plants as they come back.

A bread knife for harvesting greens with greens, hardly a disease, only a few pests

The most troublesome insect pests of greens are the small leaf miners which feed on spinach, chard, and mustard (and beets and turnips as well). They are hard to control because they feed inside the leaves, not on them. Tear off the areas of the leaves with miners before you harvest; it’s easier done in the garden than in the kitchen.

Because they are part of the cabbage family, mustard, collards, and kale can be bothered by the cabbage worm. Routine sprayings with the non-chemical Dipel or Thuricide once you spot the white cabbage moth should prevent any problems.

Aphids can be a problem with greens if they become too numerous. They are small, come in all colors, and hurt crops by sucking plant sap from leaves and stems. In a bad case, the plants will become stunted. Luckily, there are many natural predators of aphids—lady bugs, lacewing larvae, and some wasps. If you notice an unusually large group of aphids feeding on your greens, spray the plants with a soapy mixture, until predators bring the aphid population back to a level you can live with.

Diseases have not bothered any of my greens over the years. The most important step in keeping your greens free of disease is to thin wide rows correctly. The rows must have air circulating through them so plants can dry off after a rain or watering. If they’re too thick, the plants will stay wet and that’s an open invitation to disease organisms.

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