Fact Sheet: Leafy Greens

While reading about leafy greens and their benefits on "The Truth in Medicine" forum, I got to thinking about the many different leafy greens that we can grow organically, in our own gardens, or even in pots. Such a huge variety, my personal favourites are, kale, spinach, mustard greens, chicory, rocket, chinese broccoli, water cress, and the new growing tips of sweet potato vines. In the article below are a few more you could try.

spud



http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s824308.htm



Fact Sheet: Leafy Greens


It was not that many years ago that when we made up a salad, you could guarantee that it would be made using lettuce leaves of one of the hearting varieties available. Times have changed. Now we can grow a huge range of leafy greens to make up the most marvellous tasting, and nutritional salads.

Jade Woodhouse is an organic grower of vegetables, and grows hundreds of varieties of leafy greens and introduces us to some of the more unusual ones. Salad Burnet Sanguisorba minor is a favourite because of the very decorative leaves in the garden and in a salad. The young shoots are the ones that are eaten and are very high in vitamin B. It is a perennial and should be planted in some shade in hotter regions, as it can die back in the summer. Egyptian Spinach or Melokhai has a bright green leaf with a soft texture when eaten, and children love it. It loves the heat and should be grown in full sun. It can be germinated from seed and grown in humus-rich soil. The leaves of Chia Salvia rhyacophila can be eaten in a salad as well as the seeds, which are high in protein and crunchy like poppy seeds. The leaves and seeds are an energy boost. Brazilian Spinach Alternanthera sp. makes a wonderful edible border plant. It is a perennial with a beautiful decorative, crinkly leaf that adds a firm, crunchy texture in a leafy salad. Plucking the leaves downward encourages new leaves to shoot from the leaf axil. The plant is cut back to the ground every year, refreshing the foliage, with worm castings added to the surrounding soil to enrich it. Hibiscus Spinach or Aibika Abelmoschus manihot is a tropical and subtropical variety whose petals melt in the mouth when added to a salad. It is a prolific seed producer and has the potential to become weedy. The plant needs to be kept pruned to reduce the amount of seed produced, but also because this practice encourages a thicker plant by promoting active new growth. These young tender leaves are the ones best used in a salad. Lebanese Cress Aethionema coridifolium has the taste of cucumber, and is a perennial that enjoys moist soil. In warmer climates it needs to be grown in the shade. It roots easily from cuttings, and is a quick grower that can also be used as an effective groundcover.

When leaves such as these are grown organically, they can be picked at any time without fear of ingesting any pesticides, which is important when they are harvested every day. Salads are an excellent way of taking in all the vitamins and minerals that are necessary to benefit our everyday health. Salads are a wonderful way of tapping into our senses of sight, sound, taste and smell, where colour, texture and flavour are all combined in the salad bowl.

Tweet