One of my favourites is leaf beet , alias perpetual spinach . I love the taste . You can harvest it pretty much all the year round . And it's SO easy to grow .
Great programme- inspiring as ever. My addition to the list of leafy greens is sorrel. It’s a key ingredient for Frankfurt green sauce and comes up year after year. Another ingredient of the sauce is salad burnet, a plant with cucumber flavoured leaves and a pretty flower.
Excellent video Ben, chalk full of really great stuff and inspiration. I have sooooo many greens that I love, love, love. Everything you mentioned is truly great, but there are some that I love that are worth a mention. Lambs Quarters, Purslane, Stinging Nettles, Nasturtiums, Miner’s Lettuce, micro greens, young pea sprouts/shoots, sunflower sprouts/shoots, are just some of those. And in harsh climates where you get snow, I love sowing spinach and other greens in the late fall and I cover them with some clean leaves and clean straw mulch and leave them out with no cover at all (I don’t water them in, I leave them as if it was all nature doing it, mimicking nature). About the time the snow melts (and often before it’s completely gone, you will have young spinach and other greens poking out to catch some early spring sun (about the same time other gardeners are about a month away from sowing spring seeds). I love picking young spinach from the snow. But my absolute favorite green I saved for last, and it might seem surprising to some, it’s broccoli… I love broccoli greens and I am constantly picking them and munching on them whenever I’m near them in the garden. I cook the larger leaves as I would chard or kale, and while I like the broccoli flowers (the part everyone usually eats), the greens are by far my favorite part of the whole plant. And kudos on the row covers to keep the cabbage moths away. I row cover everything with super light covers and only uncover the plants that need pollination for brief times when they are in bloom. (I have tons of uncovered flowers all around the garden to keep the pollinators close by and happy, but I am very careful about what I uncover and when, and it works, 100% organic, zero pests. (I also plant some sacrificial plants outside of the garden as traps. If they get pests, I let the chickens lose on them, if they don’t get pests, I get bonus produce. So that’s either a win for me or a win for the chickens. Thanks for the inspiration and great tips Ben… You Rock!!!
My collards provide nutrition all through the winter and spring and sometimes even last through the whole year. They provide a lot of seeds too, which can be your next crop.
I love escarole, when I moved to a southern state in USA I could not find my escarole so I decided to grow them myself. Amazingly they held up all winter and I feed lots of them and common sorrel to me and my dogs in soup. The addition of greens to my dogs are literally saving their lives one has a heart condition and should have died over a year ago. The vet says it is my greens that are so healthy she even likes to munch on my turnips.... I love Perpetual spinach again they last through the winter. I plant all sorts of Kale the curly ones hold up the best to the winter. I love your videos Ben...thank you
I had a glut of escarole this spring and just put in some more for the early autumn… I doubt they'll survive our mid-north European winters, but every year is different so you never know.
hi, sir. I love your inspiring video.now I start my mini backyard garden. thank you your very inspirational, videos. you follower in philippines, keep, safe and god bless.
I don't grow spinach anymore because I discovered Orach. It's similar to spinach, but much easier to grow, grows quite tall (6-8 ft.) and produces a TON of leaves on a single plant. I have not tried to grow it as a winter veggie, but will try this year. It also puts out literally thousands of seeds to ensure a great crop next year.
I have my first seeds growing now for Orach, I love the idea of the colour and is meant to not bolt even in an Aussie summer. Never knew it would get as tall as me tho lol. Still plan to also grow spinach as our winter is perfect for it.
@@matthewfarrell317 Thanks for replying, Matthew. Orach will eventually go to see. When it does, it will produce seeds the quantity of which will astound you.
@@peterbergel Oh everything will eventually, its how long it takes, the longer the better. Since we are putting them in the food forest in the front yard, they can seed. Anything excessive I can pull out.
@@matthewfarrell317 That's kind of how I operate too, Matthew. You'll probably get a lot of orach volunteers next year. All the same, I recommend that you save a handful of the seeds to make sure you will have orach where you want it rather than where it decides to grow.
I love all of these and grow them too. It's so nice to be able to harvest during winter. My favorites are spinach, but also corn salad (a.k.a. lamb's lettuce or mâche, my favorite type of lettuce), and winter purslane. Winter purslane should be sown when it's already cold outside, or cold-stratified in the fridge. It's delicious prepared like spinach.
@@jennywarren3176 Most welcome! It needs temperatures between 8° and 12° Celsius to germinate, so I don't sow it out until October (I live in a very warm region in Germany). This time of year is still too warm here. I just sprinkle it on the ground and don't cover it since it needs light to germinate well. It's one of my favorite winter crops and despite its delicate appearance, it really thumbs its nose at frosty temperatures. I hope you get a great harvest! :)
@@jennywarren3176 You're welcome! And I forgot to mention that the seeds germinate much better if you place the closed seed packets into the refrigerator for a couple of days. It saves the faff of cold-stratifying them and works just as well. They seem to like a bit of cold to kiss them awake. :)
Yep growing all of that. I start them all off in the greenhouse. Cavolo Nero is delicious - my all round number one crop. Try also growing Asian greens such as Pak Choi, Mizuna, Amsoy and Komatsuna - all as pick and come again crops.
I saw the nasturtium in the background and thought, hmm maybe it will be on the list haha. I've had the flowers often, memories of my friend's dad growing them every year when we were kids, and letting us have free reign to eat a ton of flowers, but it wasn't until last year that I learned you can eat the leaves too! They also have a bit of a peppery taste, so I'll be growing tons more next year for some fun salad options! Otherwise I still really want to grow the dark green kale you showed, and definitely turnips again, they're just super easy!
Once again you've inspired me to try something new- fall planting. Most of the greens you mentioned did well in my tiny garden this spring, and several surprisingly continued doing well through most of the summer
Hello Ben! Wonderful video. Here across the pond, I grow Italian Dandelion in containers much as you would leaf lettuce. Bitter greens are delicious and packed with vitamins. I saute the Dandelion with extra virgin olive oil, garlic and salt/pepper to taste.
I planted 3 luciano kale in my garden back in April, it's now a few days from december and I can get 3-4 huge leaves (enough for a meal or two) every single day. I've been getting that much since about mid june.
Sorel is a wonderful crop. The plat lasts forever and produces abundantly. It will bolt but then come back towards the end of summer. Just like spinach, it is loaded with iron and has a bit of a tart, lemony flavour. Great for salads.
1. Swiss Chard 30-45cm apart 2. Beetroot - can eat the leaves to. (yum) 3. Spinach 4. Kale 45cm apart - protect from cabbage white butterfly 5. Collards & Sping greens, ? might include Pak Choi ? 30-45cm apart 6. Turnip tops Not quite sure where the 6 came from, (?bonus veg?)
Always the best recommendations, Ben. Thanks for this video! My allotment is full of greens, in particular, I love growing all the varieties of chicory (spadona, cicoria riccia, catalogna). These are slightly bitter but are gorgeous side dishes, full of nutrition. I also recommend 'broccoletti' that are not broccoli and you eat only the leafy greens.
Ben, let me tell you the tale of the only food my Depression Era Grandpa could not eat... turnip greens. He grew them in the parking strip and a neighbor asked if he was just going to waste bin those or eat the thinned greens. My grandpa asked how you cook them. Grammie prepared them and everyone took their share. The kids managed theirs mostly. Papa took one bite and spent the rest of the meal dodging them, working up the nerve to take the next bite. His helping was still on his plate at the end of the meal. That was the only food my father saw his dad refuse to eat and part of the handful of dishes my grandfather banned from the table until his death.
Lovely informative video. Has anyone mentioned coriander? I live in the central belt of Scotland and I'm still happily picking it half way through November. It does bolt, but it responds really well to cutting and the stems are delicious.
Two of my favorite greens for the winter (in addition to the ones you mentioned) are sorrel and mustard. I use them both in salads and make sorrel into a blended sorrel/chicken stock soup. And of course I grow cilantro for my favorite Vietnamese dishes.
I'm in zone 8. Do check out our video on making a row cover, which might help: ruclips.net/video/Oc70X2Jn1gk/видео.html I'll add your suggestion for a cold frame video to our list of topic ideas. Thank you.
Hello, winter is here so I’m back viewing videos, I have a question about number 6 is there a particular turnip that has tastier leaves as you don’t mention an actual turnip? Thank you for sharing ✌️🇨🇦🐝 well
Getting ready to plant my Kale. But I’m overwhelmed with tomatoes right now. I can them, dry them and make salsa. But I’m going to try to ferment some since I have so many. Kale freezes well also !
Haha - of course! I just add a mix of fruits, including berries, to a blender, along with a banana for creaminess, and then the leaves - any green leaf will do. Top up with water and, for extra smoothness, a dollop of Greek yoghurt. I sometimes add cucumber and beet roots in there too.
I absolutely love borscht - the soup made from beets. Loads of recipes available online. Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream, loads of dill and hard-boiled eggs.
have an 8x8 garden with low screen fence, deer jump in and out, tomtoes disappear. what to do? did have beets and leeks, my radishes were some strange root? also I have comfrey galore , it invaded the garden , I had black plastic over it late winter but came back. , how to get rid of comfrey?
Hi Daina. The only way to keep deer out is to install deer fencing around the garden, which I appreciate might be a bit much. But you want to have the fencing high enough to stop them jumping in. Comfrey can be removed like any other weed - by covering it with black sheeting to exclude the light, so it runs out of resources, or digging it up as you find it. Weakening the plant first by excluding light is advised, which will make digging up any bits that pop up a lot easier.
Did you start with seeds? I've found it difficult to find chard plants for transplanting in the last couple of years. The last chard I grew was brilliant and it lasted more than 2 years. I like the taste better than many other greens and they grew well in a shady spot near some trees.
Spinach often grows really poorly in my garden (I'm not sure why, I suspect the slugs of eating it as soon as it sprouts - when I manage a crop it's almost always in spring before the population picks up) and I hate kale with a passion. My favorite cold-season leafy veg is probably mustard greens (in a variety of styles and colors), which makes a lovely salad but can also be used cooked in soups, omelets, curries, etc. And let's not forget lamb's ear lettuce, it's not terribly versatile but still a staple of the winter salads and if you let it go to seed it'll invade your garden every winter. Same with landcress, it keeps cropping up. I'd love to be able to grow miner's lettuce but keep failing. I think the sunny patches are too sunny and the shady ones are too sluggy…
Lamb's lettuce is incredibly prolific and survives quite surprisingly severe cold. Miner's lettuce grows well throughout the winter too - certainly keeping slugs under control will help it establish.
@@GrowVeg Lamb's lettuce is incredible. The only thing you can't do is pick it when it's frozen solid, because it'll go mushy (well, yes, I had to try it once…), but if you leave it alone it sorts itself out and picks up like nothing happened. Who'd have thought those soft, delicate leaves would be so tough! As for the miner's lettuce, I keep hoping… one good year and I'm confident it'll come back.
Did you know Squrrels love leafy greens and cabbages? Oh yes! They have almost wiped me out. Forget the bugs.🤥They chewed nice litte holes in the mesh and had them a feast! 😑😑😂 They haven't touched the broccoli- yet. Probably waiting on it to get ready for harvest. 🤣
Kale's nice steamed for a few minutes with a little pepper and nutmeg, especially the cavalo nero. Spinach also has a bit of a punch to it. Not as much as rocket or watercress but still a little spicy.
Depends how you prepare them, and what you call flavour. If you have a scorched-earth palate that needs habaneros for a mild curry, you won't be impressed. But also, if you're in a temperate climate, it's easier for your greens to be sweet and succulent. And collards must be cooked for a long time. I tend to add everything into one-pot meals (or adding to bread doughs) because it saves energy and time, and cooking like that is a whole lot more forgiving than plain steaming. But e.g. adding baby chard to salads makes for a much more interesting variety of textures and flavours.
Beetroot leaves taste of beetroot. Cavolo nero is quite a strong kale. If you want really dominant flavours you could try mustard greens and watercress. In summer I would be eating the leaves from the nasturtiums that were growing behind Ben as they add a lovely peppery kick to salads.
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Oh Ben, a three-word alliteration after only 0:17 seconds. Lovely, luscious leafy greens.
I do my best! :-)
😊
I love the way Ben's eye's light up when talking about growing veg.
One of my favourites is leaf beet , alias perpetual spinach . I love the taste . You can harvest it pretty much all the year round . And it's SO easy to grow .
It is awesome Richard, it really is!
All is so beautiful!!! God bless!
I love those greens too!🙂
I love turnip greens! Great in a wrap. I will definitelt try beet greens. Thank you for the food ideas!. 🌈
Beet greens have a mild beetroot taste. They're delicious in a salad with an orange and mustard dressing.
@@jennywarren3176 sounds great! thanks
@@jennywarren3176 How do you make the orange mustard dressing? or do you buy it?
Great programme- inspiring as ever. My addition to the list of leafy greens is sorrel. It’s a key ingredient for Frankfurt green sauce and comes up year after year. Another ingredient of the sauce is salad burnet, a plant with cucumber flavoured leaves and a pretty flower.
Great additions to the list there!
Good info, I will have to write this down as I like to try something new. Flowers, too? Brilliant!
Excellent video Ben, chalk full of really great stuff and inspiration.
I have sooooo many greens that I love, love, love. Everything you mentioned is truly great, but there are some that I love that are worth a mention. Lambs Quarters, Purslane, Stinging Nettles, Nasturtiums, Miner’s Lettuce, micro greens, young pea sprouts/shoots, sunflower sprouts/shoots, are just some of those.
And in harsh climates where you get snow, I love sowing spinach and other greens in the late fall and I cover them with some clean leaves and clean straw mulch and leave them out with no cover at all (I don’t water them in, I leave them as if it was all nature doing it, mimicking nature). About the time the snow melts (and often before it’s completely gone, you will have young spinach and other greens poking out to catch some early spring sun (about the same time other gardeners are about a month away from sowing spring seeds). I love picking young spinach from the snow.
But my absolute favorite green I saved for last, and it might seem surprising to some, it’s broccoli… I love broccoli greens and I am constantly picking them and munching on them whenever I’m near them in the garden. I cook the larger leaves as I would chard or kale, and while I like the broccoli flowers (the part everyone usually eats), the greens are by far my favorite part of the whole plant.
And kudos on the row covers to keep the cabbage moths away. I row cover everything with super light covers and only uncover the plants that need pollination for brief times when they are in bloom. (I have tons of uncovered flowers all around the garden to keep the pollinators close by and happy, but I am very careful about what I uncover and when, and it works, 100% organic, zero pests. (I also plant some sacrificial plants outside of the garden as traps. If they get pests, I let the chickens lose on them, if they don’t get pests, I get bonus produce. So that’s either a win for me or a win for the chickens.
Thanks for the inspiration and great tips Ben… You Rock!!!
Cheers for all that Tim - and your superb additions to this list of greens. Love your enthusiasm for broccoli greens - they're great aren't they!
Broccoli leaves are even more nutritious than the broccoli heads!
Love collards and kale, just planted yesterday.
My collards provide nutrition all through the winter and spring and sometimes even last through the whole year. They provide a lot of seeds too, which can be your next crop.
@@peterbergel I'll have to try collecting their seeds.
I love escarole, when I moved to a southern state in USA I could not find my escarole so I decided to grow them myself. Amazingly they held up all winter and I feed lots of them and common sorrel to me and my dogs in soup. The addition of greens to my dogs are literally saving their lives one has a heart condition and should have died over a year ago. The vet says it is my greens that are so healthy she even likes to munch on my turnips.... I love Perpetual spinach again they last through the winter. I plant all sorts of Kale the curly ones hold up the best to the winter. I love your videos Ben...thank you
Greens are so good for you - and it appears good for dogs too! So pleased they've proved so powerful in helping your dog with the heart condition.
I had a glut of escarole this spring and just put in some more for the early autumn… I doubt they'll survive our mid-north European winters, but every year is different so you never know.
hi, sir. I love your inspiring video.now I start my mini backyard garden. thank you your very inspirational, videos. you follower in philippines, keep, safe and god bless.
I just started my various greens. Thanks for the video.
I don't grow spinach anymore because I discovered Orach. It's similar to spinach, but much easier to grow, grows quite tall (6-8 ft.) and produces a TON of leaves on a single plant. I have not tried to grow it as a winter veggie, but will try this year. It also puts out literally thousands of seeds to ensure a great crop next year.
I have my first seeds growing now for Orach, I love the idea of the colour and is meant to not bolt even in an Aussie summer. Never knew it would get as tall as me tho lol. Still plan to also grow spinach as our winter is perfect for it.
@@matthewfarrell317 Thanks for replying, Matthew. Orach will eventually go to see. When it does, it will produce seeds the quantity of which will astound you.
@@peterbergel Oh everything will eventually, its how long it takes, the longer the better. Since we are putting them in the food forest in the front yard, they can seed. Anything excessive I can pull out.
@@matthewfarrell317 That's kind of how I operate too, Matthew. You'll probably get a lot of orach volunteers next year. All the same, I recommend that you save a handful of the seeds to make sure you will have orach where you want it rather than where it decides to grow.
@@matthewfarrell317 where can I buy seeds, please?
I love all of these and grow them too. It's so nice to be able to harvest during winter. My favorites are spinach, but also corn salad (a.k.a. lamb's lettuce or mâche, my favorite type of lettuce), and winter purslane. Winter purslane should be sown when it's already cold outside, or cold-stratified in the fridge. It's delicious prepared like spinach.
Thanks for that! I've just got some winter purslane seeds and haven't grown it before. I'll hold off planting it for a while.
@@jennywarren3176 Most welcome! It needs temperatures between 8° and 12° Celsius to germinate, so I don't sow it out until October (I live in a very warm region in Germany). This time of year is still too warm here. I just sprinkle it on the ground and don't cover it since it needs light to germinate well. It's one of my favorite winter crops and despite its delicate appearance, it really thumbs its nose at frosty temperatures. I hope you get a great harvest! :)
@@beautyforashes2230 thank you. Sounds like October would be about right where I am. 🙂
@@jennywarren3176 You're welcome! And I forgot to mention that the seeds germinate much better if you place the closed seed packets into the refrigerator for a couple of days. It saves the faff of cold-stratifying them and works just as well. They seem to like a bit of cold to kiss them awake. :)
Sweet potato leaves are so delicious!
I've just ordered my seeds for winter greens so this video is timely. Thank you for the great content as usual! Always informative!
Yep growing all of that. I start them all off in the greenhouse. Cavolo Nero is delicious - my all round number one crop. Try also growing Asian greens such as Pak Choi, Mizuna, Amsoy and Komatsuna - all as pick and come again crops.
Love the Asian greens too Paul - some really great flavours and textures among them.
I saw the nasturtium in the background and thought, hmm maybe it will be on the list haha. I've had the flowers often, memories of my friend's dad growing them every year when we were kids, and letting us have free reign to eat a ton of flowers, but it wasn't until last year that I learned you can eat the leaves too! They also have a bit of a peppery taste, so I'll be growing tons more next year for some fun salad options! Otherwise I still really want to grow the dark green kale you showed, and definitely turnips again, they're just super easy!
Nasturtiums are an awesome green too, definitely!
Nasturtium leaves are high in vitamin C and natural antibiotic!
Once again you've inspired me to try something new- fall planting. Most of the greens you mentioned did well in my tiny garden this spring, and several surprisingly continued doing well through most of the summer
So pleased you've been inspired Dave - keep up the good work!
🌍💚 your videos are cheerful.
I like delivery of information, easy to follow. Thank you.
Really appreciate, that. Thanks Catherine.
Thanks Ben appreciate your video 👍
Excellent video Ben.
It’s amazing just how much you can still grow at this time of year
Plenty of life left in the growing season yet!
Hello Ben! Wonderful video. Here across the pond, I grow Italian Dandelion in containers much as you would leaf lettuce. Bitter greens are delicious and packed with vitamins. I saute the Dandelion with extra virgin olive oil, garlic and salt/pepper to taste.
That sounds really rather delicious Helen!
I planted 3 luciano kale in my garden back in April, it's now a few days from december and I can get 3-4 huge leaves (enough for a meal or two) every single day. I've been getting that much since about mid june.
Oh wow - that's fantastic. What a great result!
Sorel is a wonderful crop. The plat lasts forever and produces abundantly. It will bolt but then come back towards the end of summer. Just like spinach, it is loaded with iron and has a bit of a tart, lemony flavour. Great for salads.
I've never tried turnip greens, but I shall. Thank you for this information. SW Washington, USA
1. Swiss Chard 30-45cm apart
2. Beetroot - can eat the leaves to. (yum)
3. Spinach
4. Kale 45cm apart - protect from cabbage white butterfly
5. Collards & Sping greens, ? might include Pak Choi ? 30-45cm apart
6. Turnip tops
Not quite sure where the 6 came from, (?bonus veg?)
Our summer is too hot 🥵 , so our growing season is autumn through spring, which I think is a bonus as we don’t get the pests 🐝🪱🌈😎
That's one benefit to it I guess - and a very big one!
Thank you for the chapters! 😁😁
Still looking for beed root to grow in my garden too , your plant vegetable in the garden growth well and great harvesting for cooking
Always the best recommendations, Ben. Thanks for this video! My allotment is full of greens, in particular, I love growing all the varieties of chicory (spadona, cicoria riccia, catalogna). These are slightly bitter but are gorgeous side dishes, full of nutrition. I also recommend 'broccoletti' that are not broccoli and you eat only the leafy greens.
How wonderful to be growing all those different types of chicory - such a lovely variety there. :-)
Lots of fantastic suggestions. We'll definitely put them into practice, thank you! 🙌💚
vườn rau lên tốt quá ạ
Ben, let me tell you the tale of the only food my Depression Era Grandpa could not eat... turnip greens. He grew them in the parking strip and a neighbor asked if he was just going to waste bin those or eat the thinned greens. My grandpa asked how you cook them. Grammie prepared them and everyone took their share. The kids managed theirs mostly. Papa took one bite and spent the rest of the meal dodging them, working up the nerve to take the next bite.
His helping was still on his plate at the end of the meal. That was the only food my father saw his dad refuse to eat and part of the handful of dishes my grandfather banned from the table until his death.
Interesting Alyn - clearly an acquired taste then!
I imagined your grandpas face when turnip greens were on the table. I love them.😂😂😂
🍚🥔 sweet potato greens are my fav
☺
hello, how are you today, come back watching
Love your vids, they’re so informative😊. It would be nice if you did a separate topic for those growing in sub tropics 😃
He's in England, so you'd need someone who's growing in your kind of area to show what they do.
@@jennywarren3176 I pay a subscription to the garden planner so it would nice to have if supported
Lovely informative video. Has anyone mentioned coriander? I live in the central belt of Scotland and I'm still happily picking it half way through November. It does bolt, but it responds really well to cutting and the stems are delicious.
It's a great herb, for sure. And it's less inclined to bolt in the autumn, which is handy.
Arugula greens are also another good green which lasts throughout the year
Yes, great addition to the list.
Two of my favorite greens for the winter (in addition to the ones you mentioned) are sorrel and mustard. I use them both in salads and make sorrel into a blended sorrel/chicken stock soup. And of course I grow cilantro for my favorite Vietnamese dishes.
I echo Harriette's additions of sorrel and mustard. Love the flavor.
Same here - lovely leaves!
Ham bone with mustard and collard greens, garlic and onions, cooked for hours, pot liquor from the bottom oh, so yummy!
@@josiebridges3583 Jus bought the ham bones and harvested the garlic and onions last week :)
Ben, what growing zone are you in? Can you do a video about cold frames during winter?
He sounds English, maybe zone 7
I'm in zone 8. Do check out our video on making a row cover, which might help: ruclips.net/video/Oc70X2Jn1gk/видео.html
I'll add your suggestion for a cold frame video to our list of topic ideas. Thank you.
Hello, winter is here so I’m back viewing videos, I have a question about number 6 is there a particular turnip that has tastier leaves as you don’t mention an actual turnip? Thank you for sharing ✌️🇨🇦🐝 well
Most of the turnips that form roots also have leaves that make great eating. Tokyo Cross and Hakurei are particularly recommended.
Getting ready to plant my Kale. But I’m overwhelmed with tomatoes right now. I can them, dry them and make salsa. But I’m going to try to ferment some since I have so many. Kale freezes well also !
Sounds like you have your tomato glut well under control. :-)
Nice pilant tips
Original greens: Komatsuna, Pack Choi
Ben, when are you going to share your Famous Favorite Green Smoothie recipe?
Haha - of course! I just add a mix of fruits, including berries, to a blender, along with a banana for creaminess, and then the leaves - any green leaf will do. Top up with water and, for extra smoothness, a dollop of Greek yoghurt. I sometimes add cucumber and beet roots in there too.
What growing medium do you use in your raised beds?
I filled the beds with compost made from garden waste (bought in in bulk bags).
@@GrowVeg I make my own soil ( from leaves kitchen scraps and garden debris) in big pots or totes, ready within 6 months.
Hi, I am looking for a good beet cooking recipe ; any you would like to share? Thank you
I absolutely love borscht - the soup made from beets. Loads of recipes available online. Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream, loads of dill and hard-boiled eggs.
have an 8x8 garden with low screen fence, deer jump in and out, tomtoes disappear. what to do? did have beets and leeks, my radishes were some strange root? also I have comfrey galore , it invaded the garden , I had black plastic over it late winter but came back. , how to get rid of comfrey?
Hi Daina. The only way to keep deer out is to install deer fencing around the garden, which I appreciate might be a bit much. But you want to have the fencing high enough to stop them jumping in. Comfrey can be removed like any other weed - by covering it with black sheeting to exclude the light, so it runs out of resources, or digging it up as you find it. Weakening the plant first by excluding light is advised, which will make digging up any bits that pop up a lot easier.
Did you start with seeds? I've found it difficult to find chard plants for transplanting in the last couple of years. The last chard I grew was brilliant and it lasted more than 2 years. I like the taste better than many other greens and they grew well in a shady spot near some trees.
Yes, most of the greens I grow, including chard, are started from seed.
👍
I know it's not a leafy green but when is a good time to plant broccoli?
Broccoli is best sown in mid spring to plant into the ground as young plants in early summer.
😋
Do you cook the beetroot or blend it raw?
Raw beetroot leaves would go in the smoothie.
Yes, blend the leaves (and the roots sometimes also) in there raw.
Once you grow your own greens the supermarket ones look pretty nasty.
agree with you , have a nice to you
Spinach often grows really poorly in my garden (I'm not sure why, I suspect the slugs of eating it as soon as it sprouts - when I manage a crop it's almost always in spring before the population picks up) and I hate kale with a passion. My favorite cold-season leafy veg is probably mustard greens (in a variety of styles and colors), which makes a lovely salad but can also be used cooked in soups, omelets, curries, etc. And let's not forget lamb's ear lettuce, it's not terribly versatile but still a staple of the winter salads and if you let it go to seed it'll invade your garden every winter. Same with landcress, it keeps cropping up. I'd love to be able to grow miner's lettuce but keep failing. I think the sunny patches are too sunny and the shady ones are too sluggy…
Lamb's lettuce is incredibly prolific and survives quite surprisingly severe cold. Miner's lettuce grows well throughout the winter too - certainly keeping slugs under control will help it establish.
@@GrowVeg Lamb's lettuce is incredible. The only thing you can't do is pick it when it's frozen solid, because it'll go mushy (well, yes, I had to try it once…), but if you leave it alone it sorts itself out and picks up like nothing happened. Who'd have thought those soft, delicate leaves would be so tough!
As for the miner's lettuce, I keep hoping… one good year and I'm confident it'll come back.
Did you know Squrrels love leafy greens and cabbages? Oh yes! They have almost wiped me out. Forget the bugs.🤥They chewed nice litte holes in the mesh and had them a feast! 😑😑😂 They haven't touched the broccoli- yet. Probably waiting on it to get ready for harvest. 🤣
Oh no - that's such a shame! Pesky little so-and-sos!
Never tried these greens but they sound a bit bland - or am I wrong?
Kale's nice steamed for a few minutes with a little pepper and nutmeg, especially the cavalo nero. Spinach also has a bit of a punch to it. Not as much as rocket or watercress but still a little spicy.
Depends how you prepare them, and what you call flavour. If you have a scorched-earth palate that needs habaneros for a mild curry, you won't be impressed. But also, if you're in a temperate climate, it's easier for your greens to be sweet and succulent. And collards must be cooked for a long time. I tend to add everything into one-pot meals (or adding to bread doughs) because it saves energy and time, and cooking like that is a whole lot more forgiving than plain steaming. But e.g. adding baby chard to salads makes for a much more interesting variety of textures and flavours.
Beetroot leaves taste of beetroot. Cavolo nero is quite a strong kale. If you want really dominant flavours you could try mustard greens and watercress. In summer I would be eating the leaves from the nasturtiums that were growing behind Ben as they add a lovely peppery kick to salads.
Try arugula or mustard for a stronger flavour.
@@tessasilberbauer6219
Collards with mustard greens, onions, garlic and a ham bone cooked for hours