Perennial Greens (was Training our taste buds )

[Guest guest]

Hi Roseta,

Have you tried the New Zealand spinach? This is a weird and wonderful,

nutritious hot weather plant. It seems perennial for the southern US.

It pulled through my mild winter, slightly increasing and then started

to go crazy, one plant producing a whole spinach patch. It grows

overnight faster than I can cut and use it. However, eating it raw it

does (to my taste) have a bitter and metallic aftertaste I don't like.

 

I have some strawberry spinach (aka beetberry or Chenopodium

capitatum) that seems to go well in hot weather. It tastes wonderful

raw with very sweet long stems, supposedly fruit berries too, but I

haven't seen any yet.

 

The red malabar spinach is a beautiful plant, loves hot weather and

tastes really good, raw or cooked. Though it is not as nutritious as

the New Zealand spinach and not cold hardy enough for mild winters.

I'm also trying purslane, sorrel, miner's lettuce and (later) burnet

for perennial greens. My lacinato and red russian kale have had half

the plants bolt, while my dwarf blue (tightly curled) and pentland

brig kales are all keeping on bigger and more productive than ever,

keeping me fed along with tons of the New Zealand spinach.

 

Regarding mustard, my green-wave mustard greens were wonderfully

productive all winter with frilly large leaves tasting strongly of

horseradish. Then last month they bolted too and then quickly mildewed

with our freak 100 degree temps so I had to pull them out. I got some

tatsoi mustard to try, (mild taste, rounded leaves). And I'll probably

start some more mustard greens in the late summer again for next year.

 

Stay well,

 

Slim

 

, " rosetalleo " <rosetalleo

wrote:

>

> Ginger, not sure where you live, but if you have an indian store

with fresh spices and you

> plant the brown/black mustard seeds and also the yellow ones, you

will probably get a

> few plants. I am experimenting with this since I want to grow

greens even when it gets

> really hot here. Lettuce will not be possible in the summer so I

like to try other greens. I

> am also trying fenugreek greens (have not tasted yet).

>

> My partner does not like cooked spinach either, and it is hard to

get him to eat any greens

> cooked. We do eat a lot of salads growing our own greens and he

really likes that. So you

> are not alone in the preference....

> Roseta in Los Angeles

>