I’m in zone 10a and I’d ideally like to grow lettuce or kale or spinach or any kind of leafy green all year round. I’m wondering whether anyone has had success and which varieties are the most heat tolerant.
Thanks!
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Jericho lettuce. It’s a romaine type and had done well for me with temps into the 90s.
Collards are also great and do well with the heat.
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My favorite heat tolerant leafy green from my garden is purslane.
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Red sails lettuce ,
best to make multiple plantings about a month apart.
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Southern broadleaf mustard.
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chard
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Jericho and Nevada are good heat tolerant lettuce varieties. They won’t make a crop year round as it is very difficult to grow any kind of lettuce through the heat of summer. Purslane is also an easy to grow green vegetable.
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I gave up on lettuce. It ALL turns out bitter no matter how cool or warm it is.
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The only true lettuce that I can grow here in mid-Summer (S NY) that I know of is Pinetree’s All Year Around lettuce. Best to start it under some kind of shade cloth but once it is a reasonably strong plant it can grow in whatever the weather here has to offer in full sun. Takes a long time to bolt.
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Swiss chard.
When I have too much I remove the stems and just eat the leaves. (boil)
Otherwise eat stem and leaf.
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A perennial sorrel I have here (7b) in full sun, right up against a reflective concrete wall, looks terrible in the heat every August/September but comes back strong every Spring. Big advantages of this plant include it’s unique taste, like lemon, and it’s care requirements, which are none: no fertilizer, no water, no pests.
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My favorite is easily horseradish. People don’t know that the leaves are edible. They are more sturdy than lettuce or spinach and don’t bolt in the sun. They require no work whatsoever in my garden. Huge leaves, that keep growing. Did you know that cruciferous vegetables such as this are not only about the healthiest thing you can eat, they also fight cancer? I leave the root in the ground. I bought the plant about 20 years ago, and I have had all you can eat cruciferous leaves every year since then. Don’t till the area, or you will have innumerable plants. I don’t till and the plant is fine and just stays there. On some of the bigger leaves, the central rib is a little tough, so I remove it and I used to just compost it. Now I chop it up into a zillion tiny little crunch bombs.
My second is probably leeks. I don’t pull the bulb out of the ground. I just cut the large leafy part above the ground and chop it up and put it in my food. I bought $1 worth of leek starts 25 years ago and I’ve had all you can eat leeks since then. Alliums like leeks, garlic, onions and shallots also fight cancer and build your gut microbiome.
John S
PDX OR
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horseradish!!!
I’m always thinning leaves, and putting on compost pile.
I will try!
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Horseradish leaves excellent in mixed greens for cooking…too bad I didn’t have a couple leaves to go into the kale and dandelions last evening!
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Kale and dandelions are great for the gut microbiome too!
Good call.
John S
PDX OR
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Okinawa spinach is good, better than the malabar spinach. Not a true spinach, and has to be propagated by cuttings. It came back from root last year and I am in zone 9a.
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New Zealand spinach works well this way too.
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Question about the cage around your chard…what animals does that keep out? Thanks.
What do horseradish leaves taste like? Are they sharp like the root? Do you eat them mostly raw or cooked? I have Kale and dandelions growing already. Love them.
1/3 kale, 1/3 dandelion and 1/3 horseradish makes a good cooked pot of greens.
Add a little vinegar (or mustard) and go to eating. My mouth is drooling.