Year-Round Salad Greens « The EssentiaList

Year-Round Salad Greens

by Catherine Haug

Continuing with ideas on year-round veggie production, I found an article on the Gardeners.com website titled “How to Grow Salad Greens All Year,” by Kathy LaLiberte (see Sources, below, for url).

Most salad greens (lettuces, leaves of arugula, radicchio, spinach, cress, mustards and herbs) are cool-weather vegetables, and need to be protected from hot summer sun, by partial-shading techniques. Also, choose a variety appropriate for the season. Feed and water appropriately. (1)

If you have experience with growing greens through a longer season, send me an email with your tips and I’ll add them to this post. Let me know whether you want me to use your name (first name and last initial).

Year-Round Sowing of Greens

What to Sow

Another consideration is to choose a variety appropriate for the season. Gardeners.com (1) makes the following recommendations:

Cool season varieties: These thrive in cool soil and relatively low light conditions. For example: “lettuces Arctic King, Winter Marvel,Winter Density and Black-Seeded Simpson; the arugula Astro and many beautiful cutting mixes blended for spring growing conditions.”
Warm season, heat-tolerant varieties: Red Butterworth, Torenia, Larissa, Craquerelle Du Midi and Rosalita; Emu or Tyee spinach.

Bear in mind that when temperatures are just too cold, greens go into a dormant stage and will not grow much. You will need patience during such times. As soon as the temperatures warm, they will start growing again.

When to Sow

Sow seeds every week or so, changing variety when the season changes. (1)

The article recommends seed starting indoors during cool or warm weather. Keep a steady supply of starts growing, ready to transplant on a regular basis, to the garden. (1)

Or you can direct-seed in the garden. Try sowing a few seeds when there is unoccupied space. Select a space that is somewhat protected if the weather is warm, such as under/behind cucumbers trained on a trellis. If the spot isn’t ideal, sow the seeds anyway, and transplant them to a better spot when the seedlings are young.(1)

How To Sow/Transplant

Gardeners.com suggests (1):

Before sowing or transplanting in the garden, trowel some compost into the soil.
Water right after transplanting with a weak seaweed or fish emulsion.
Most greens are shallow rooted so they need a steady supply of moisture to avoid being stressed.

Microclimates

You can alter the climate immediately surrounding your greens to optimize growing conditions, and help you grow greens during the warmest and coldest weather. Hoops and row covers, partial-shade covers, and companion planting with other veggies that provide shade are all examples of microclimates.

Hoops: Instead of synthetic PVC or figerglass hoops, consider using shoots and branches of natural, native shrubs such as serviceberry, chokecherry and dogwood. See my post: Garden Hoops from Natural Materials for more on this.

When temperatures exceed 80F, consider shade netting over the hoops, to reduce incoming sunlight by 50%. “[Shade netting] keeps the soil cool and moist, lowers the air temperature, and shields plants from intense sunlight.” (1)

When nighttime temperatures approach or go below freezing, other types of covers can be used:

Floating row covers: Gardeners.com suggests (1):

“All-Purpose Garden Fabric” for temps in the 30s (blocks 30% o the light), and “Garden Quilt” for temps in the 20s (blocks 40% of the light).

When temps drop even lower, into the single digits, cover with one layer of garden quilt directly on the plants, and a second layer above the plants and supported by hoops. When springtime temps warm, remove the garden quilt you placed directly on the plants, but leave the one on the hoops, to allow more sunlight to enter.”

Other gardening suppliers offer similar products you can use.

Cold Frames: See Savvy Gardener for several ideas (This document originally from Virginia Cooperative Extension Service: Season Extenders (2))