And if you could do 2 salad greens, add a second one.
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Is kale considered a salad green? I have grown it this year and the plants are just amazingly productive - the young leaves make a delicious Caesar salad, especially if you make it a little early and allow the dressing to soften them.
It is a cut-and-come-again sort of plant, and in my climate will grow nearly all year long.
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Purple Basil…so not green.
Arugula, because it’s a good other ingredients, not just Basil and tomatoes with olive oil all the time.
@henderson if you cook it, it’s not a real salad. Sea kale us amazing, I want to grow it.
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I grow none right now but ive been looking at wasabi arugula. Let me know what else I should get
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Arugula is so easy, and is plenty tasty for me, just don’t over water it though. I have recently begun eating dandelion greens, just snatching them off random plants in the wild. Now I don’t know which I love better, the taste of the arugula or the dandelion! 
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What about good ol fashioned lettuce? Butter crunch has been a staple of mine for years, but the slugs had a good time with it last fall/spring. Grew some Bergams green from Johnny’s for the first time this spring and it was good, will be in my regular rotation
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Well, I’m not cooking it, so I guess it’s a salad 
edit: I cook salad greens too, so maybe I’m just all mixed up.
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I got introduced to beet greens recently. I actually thought they were really tasty but I don’t care for beets. I am going to convince myself to enjoy them for their health benefits. I haven’t had a hard time (so far) growing them, but I have to imagine they aren’t as easy as a typical lettuce or green that grows like a weed!
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I only grow one salad green… leaf lettuces.
I like spinach… but it is high in oxilates which we do not need.
I grow leaf lettuces all winter and spring.. December to May in a hot bed.
TNHunter
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if you like beet greens but not the root i recommend growing swiss chard. same plant but selected for leaves instead of the root.
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Mustard greens! I love mustard greens! I chew them until the wasabi spiciness hits me in the nose and then swallow until I’m worn out or feeling high, they probably should have been my #2. But I don’t eat lots like arugula.
They’re also great for fruit wraps, when I was in Vietnam I stayed in a place with no kitchen or even refrigerator and I ended up chopping fruit, mango and others, wrapping them in mustard green leaves like spring rolls, and dipping them in coconut oil. Man, that was good eating.
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Sure, it is.
Thanks!
I tried growing spinach back in the day. Never had much luck with it. You would not think it would be hard to grow. But I gave up on it. I use spinach in smoothies 3x a week. And was using in my tabouli salad.
Never knew about the oxalates.
Google 1:
Spinach is one of the highest oxalate-containing foods, packing about 755 mg of oxalates per half-cup. While a natural defense mechanism in plants, these compounds can inhibit nutrient absorption and increase the risk of calcium-oxalate kidney stones if consumed in excess. [1, 2]
Why Oxalates Matter
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Kidney Stones: About 80% of all kidney stones are formed from calcium oxalate. If your body processes high amounts of oxalates, it can lead to elevated oxalate levels in your urine. [1, 2]
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Nutrient Blockage: Oxalates bind to minerals like calcium and magnesium in the digestive tract, preventing the body from fully absorbing them. [1, 2]
Reducing Oxalate Levels
Because oxalates are water-soluble, you can significantly reduce their concentration in spinach through proper preparation: [1, 2, 3]
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Boiling: Boiling spinach can leach out more than half (up to 60%) of the oxalates into the water. Be sure to drain and discard the water.
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Steaming: Steaming reduces oxalates by roughly 30%. [1, 2, 3]
How to Enjoy Spinach Safely
If you are not prone to kidney stones and have a healthy gut microbiome, you can still enjoy spinach. To minimize the absorption of oxalates, try eating spinach alongside calcium-rich foods (like milk or cottage cheese), which allows the oxalates to bind to the calcium in the gut instead. Additionally, staying well-hydrated helps flush oxalates through your system. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
For a comprehensive look at how these compounds affect your body, check out the full Viome guide on oxalates. If you are considering a low-oxalate diet, it is always best to consult with a healthcare professional first. [1]
Google 2:
There is no universal threshold, but consuming more than 40 to 50 milligrams of oxalates per day is considered the start of a “low-oxalate diet”. Since a single 1/2-cup serving of cooked spinach contains 755 milligrams and a cup of raw spinach contains up to 1,290 milligrams of oxalates, even one serving heavily exceeds this target. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The unhealthiness of this amount largely depends on your health status: [1, 2]
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Kidney Stone Risk: Oxalates bind to calcium in the urinary tract, forming calcium oxalate stones. A regular daily intake of high-oxalate foods like spinach significantly spikes your risk if you have a history of kidney stones. [1, 2, 3, 4]
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Mineral Absorption: Oxalates can bind to nutrients like calcium and iron, preventing your body from absorbing them. [1, 2, 3]
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Safe Consumption: For healthy adults, eating spinach in moderation occasionally is typically safe. However, eating it raw in large quantities—such as in massive daily smoothies or juices—can lead to dangerously high oxalate exposure. [1, 2, 3, 4]
To reduce oxalates in spinach, you can boil or steam it, which can reduce the oxalate content by anywhere from 30% to over 50%. You can explore more about High Oxalate Greens and Kidney Stones - NutritionFacts.org or see the Foods High in Oxalates - WebMD for a comprehensive list of other foods to watch out for. [1, 2, 3, 4]
To give you a better idea of your risk, tell me:
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Do you have a history of kidney stones?
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Are you consuming spinach raw in smoothies or cooked?
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Do you generally consume spinach daily or just a few times a week?
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They are both nasty tasting. But they have to be healthy with taste like that. I need to eat them but have always had problem eating things I don’t like the taste of. You have to eat them like medicine.
Ohhhhhhh good to know! Thanks! Wife loves the root but hey, maybe more greens for me!
ah yes we are int he same set up. i grow beets and eat the leaves, my wife eats the roots lol
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Just like Campari, whiskey and gin are all medicine.
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Probably kale. The chickens love the lacinato/dinosaur kale. And any that the cabbage worms get I can just give to the girls for extra protein.
I’m a fan of watercress too.
Kale.
Katuk…and Okinawa spinach.