Growing Vegetable Greens

Greens are perennial vegetables that have great flavour, and are loaded with vitamins and minerals. Usually it is the leaves and leaf stems of immature plants, which in their green state are used for food. Young, tender branches of certain plants, New Zealand spinach, for example are also used this way.

We will deal with the three most popular vegetable greens...collard, mustard and turnip. These three cool season favourites are easy to grow and will provide you and your family with a home grown and delicious addition to your diet.

While greens are part of the same family, they have distinctive and quite different flavours. Collards are mild, mustards are spicy, and turnips are sweet when the leaves are still small before developing into bulbs.

Collard greens have rather thick veined leaves and smooth rounded edges with a dark green colour. Mustard leaves have a variety of colours and shapes. They can be red and lacey and look like lettuce or spinach. Turnips are not as thick as collard, and are lighter in colour with scalloped edges.

All three varieties of greens do well in moist and well aerated soil. Be sure to add lots of compost or other organic matter rich in humus. The soil should be well turned with a garden fork to a depth of 30 cm. or 12 in. Use a garden tiller if you have a large area you want to plant. Healthy, nutrient rich soil is the best way to insure productive and nutrient rich harvests.

Collard seeds are very small and care must be taken to not 'clump' them together when planting. Your greens should be planted in beds that are 1 m or 3 ft. wide with each variety in its own 30 cm or 1 ft. row. The bed should be about 4 m or 12 ft. long or as long as you need to supply your families needs.

One row for each of the varieties is a good way to have a variety of greens throughout the entire growing season. Be sure to leave enough space between the rows so you can harvest the leaves without damaging the surrounding plants.

Sprinkle the seeds along the centre of each row a few at a time. Be careful not to put too much seed in one place and be sure to cover the seed with a thin layer (5 mm or 1/4 in) of potting soil. If you cover the seed with a heavier soil they may not be able to break through, especially if the soil becomes hard or crusted.

Plant your turnip greens in the centre row if you want them to develop into ripe turnips. Pick the leaves sparingly as otherwise there will be no leaves to become turnips. Planting them in the centre will reduce the chance of damaging them when you harvest leaves from your other greens.

After planting the seeds mist them until the soil is moist, but not running off. Br careful not to use too much water pressure or you will blow the seeds away. Keep the soil moist during germination and sprouting to insure deep root growth.

If you want to speed up germination cover the bed with clear plastic. This can increase the soil temperature by as much as 6 degrees C or 10 degrees F. Greens need a soil temperature of at least 10 degrees C or 50 degrees F to germinate.

Install metal or wood hoops every foot or so to keep the plastic sheeting off the plants. The arch shape will capture more sun, and will allow the greens to grow without running into the plastic. You should put a 'soaker' hose in place under the sheeting. This will avoid having to move the sheeting when you water your greens.

All of the greens are hardy vegetables, most of them adapted to fall sowing and winter culture over the entire South and in the more temperate parts of the North. Their culture may be extended more widely in the North by growing them with some protection, such as mulching or frames.