I'm new to greens, too. This year I grew turnips (and used the thinnings for greens) and broccoli raab. Both of these should be cooked, and my general approach is "sautee them with olive oil and garlic." Both of these prefer cool weather, so when they're pooped out from the Spring planting, I'll put the rest in the compost, and aim for a second planting for Fall.

I've been quite happy with the results.

Kale. It's a fast growing plant (matures in about 50-65 days) and can withstand a good frost. Actually, a frost makes it taste better, so it is best planted in mid-summer to mature after your first frost period.

Highly nutritious. Some people find it a bit strong when eaten raw in a salad, but when used in a quiche or a soup, it adds some nice substance and nutrition. Or try the old Scottish colcannon. Cut up some white potatoes (with skins) into rough cubes and then barely cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until the water is almost gone (add more if potatoes are not quite cooked). Then tear up some kale leaves into the pot and continue to cook until they start to wilt. Do not drain. Take a masher to the whole lot. Add some milk if it is a touch dry. No need to add butter. Season with a bit of salt, pepper, or some fresh herbs.

Mashed potatoes by themselves are tasty, but not really that nutritious. Kale by itself can be a challenge. Both together, however, and you have a nutritious and filling side dish.

Enjoy!
Michael

Swiss chard is my favorite. It's super-easy to grow, and the rainbow mixes are so pretty in the garden. You can plant it in early spring and harvest the outer leaves all summer and fall, because it doesn't bolt in the heat and tolerates light frost. You just plant the seeds (which are actually seed clusters) and thin the resulting seedlings to about one every six inches, and you'll get big, beautiful plants. Some people say they get bitter if too large, but I haven't found that myself... even 2' tall plants stayed tender and yummy for me.

It's used similar to spinach... you can cut it up raw to mix into salads or top sandwiches, or cook it. In my opinion it tastes better than spinach (and is much easier to grow!)

My favorite way to prepare it is in a pasta dish... while some rotini is boiling, I saute some olive oil and chopped garlic in a pan... add a can of chickpeas (drained), some salt, pepper, oregano, and balsamic vinegar, and let that simmer a little... once the pasta is done, drain it and immediately put it back in the pot... while it's still hot, dump some chopped swiss chard on top of the pasta and cover it... it wilts beautifully in just a couple minutes, then I mix in the sauce and serve topped with feta or parmesan cheese. I bet it would be good with diced tomatoes, too.

Hmm... now I'm getting hungry!

Yes to everything viking says about chard!

Also try some bok choy. Super easy to grow, fast and very versatle. Slice finely and toss with dressing for a quick slaw, chop and stir-fry alone or with other veggies, slice baby boks lengthwise and braise. They grow well year round for me but we don't get too roasty here in the summer.

Swiss chard is an excellent green. It is the same species as beets, but bred for greens instead of roots. Chard grows well throughout the heat of summer, whereas many greens bolt quickly in hot weather. Chard makes an excellent quiche.

I will add to Michael's comments that kale is very good in soup with potatoes, white beans and linguica or other spicy sausage.

Baby bok choy has been a great success in my garden, especially the variety Mei Qing Choi, which seems fairly resistant to bolting and tastes really good stir fried.

I like escarole as a fall crop because I like bitter greens. I plant fall crops of this and other greens in July. It can replace lettuce, radishes and other things which are finishing at that time. I braise escarole with olive oil, garlic and chicken stock and add cooked cannellini beans for a dish known as greens and beans (or beans and greens). It's good as an appetizer, side dish or as a topping for pasta.

Jim

Jim - I forgot about escarole!! I do love it, but I don't find it to be bitter at all. Maybe it's the way we cook it - with cannellini beans olive oil and garlic same as you posted. It's one of our Christmas Eve staples!

I didn't even think of it - thanks!

And the chard sounds great as well - I like that it grows thru the heat and the cold as well.

We've had much colder temps than normal but I noticed that my spinach is beginning to flower already. I'm going to have to harvest the rest of it this weekend before it bolts. With the cool temps I didn't think I had to worry yet.

I read something about New Zealand Spinach that has no problem with heat - anyone know anything about it?

Good suggestions - I'd love to hear more!

Lisa

I'm a green newbie too. I only grew spinich twice. Last fall/Winter = successful, this spring = unsuccessful. I also planted Bok Choy but it got too hot and is starting to bolt.

I'm going to try some swiss chard and see what happens. I also ordered some amaranth seeds as I understand it is good in the heat. Seems like New Zealand spinach has mixed reviews about being good in the heat, but I don't think you have the extreme heat that we do here. I understand Malabar spinach does good in extreme heat.

For the fall, I will try more chard, mustard, red mustard (very pretty), some lettuces & spinach and see how it goes.

Ania

leira, is right -- there's hardly any green that isn't good sauteed with olive oil and garlic (collards would benefit from a small amount of your favorite stock in the pan to simmer away since they are tougher than most greens).

When I say "tougher" I don't mean that in a bad way. The same sturdiness that keeps them growing through the winter is what makes the leaves thicker and more densely fleshed -- characteristics that require more cooking.

All the strong-flavored greens can be simmered with Kielbasa or other sausage and potatoes. Don't over-cook them.

Most can be used in a stir fry (a good option when you have only a handful of thinnings -- like my chard last night).

Americans don't generally think about cooking endive and escarole, but they are quite delicious sauteed in olive oil with garlic (add a squeeze of fresh lemon at the table). They are also an amazing addition to chicken soup.

All cabbage-family greens are good lightly simmered with bacon or ham and some chopped onion. Just don't overcook them. And try a little of your favorite vinegar as a condiment.

Whichever greens you try, enjoy your experiment with new food. :-)

I really like growing greens mixtures. I've been able to find French, Italian and Japanese greens seed mix packets at local big box stores. I sow them thickly in a big plastic tray filled with potting mix. From there, I can either thin them out to eat as baby greens, transplant blocks of them out through the garden, or pick and choose the seedlings I want to grow a crop of a specific type of green (chard, bok choy, mizuna).

I am enjoying the Japanese greens right now, either thrown in a stir fry at the last minute, in miso soup, or mixed into salads. In the fall I'll grow more out to full size for more robust greens that will stand up to more cooking.

The French greens look like they'll be just as useful, with a mixture of lettuce, arugula, radicchio, endive and escarole that will be great in salads, or grown out for use in separate dishes.

Even your lettuces can be included in stir fry's and they taste wonderful. I love greens of any kind but kale is a favorite, collards, turnips and mustard...never met a green I didn't like.

Chard is the same as beet greens, but better because bulb rooted beets were developed from chard without selection for leaf flavor etc. Collards and mustard greens have a slightly stonger flavor. I learned to love them all in Southern Louisiana where they were cooked with a little bacon or smoked sausage for flavor. Brown the diced bacon or sausage, add some onions and garlic until soft and then add the greans and a little water, and cover to steam-or just add the greans wet from washing, salt to taste.

Escarole, endive, chicory, and dandelion are all somewhat bitter salad greens, good for a mixed salad in with tamer lettuces. Its funny, when you can find dandelion greens in the store they are a gourmet delicacy, but just try to get someone to pick baby dandelion greens out of their yard and they freak out. Maybe if they were found growing six inches to the left in the garden soil rather than the yard they would be OK to eat, or maybe they are only ok if you buy seeds and plant them yourself.

@spiced ham,

I love dandelions and are happy to let them grow in the yard for easy harvest.

But this yard in our new house doesn't have any.

I swear that if I see any good ones along the road I'm making DH pull over so I can pick some seed. LOL

One of my favorite cookbooks has a general rulle of thumb to follow for cooking tender greens versus "tough" greens. Tender greens (spinach, chard, etc.) can be chopped whole and cooked until wilted, while tough green (kale, collards, etc.) should be parboiled until alomst tender, shocked in cold water, then wrung out and finished as you would the tender greens. Has always led to good results for me! Oh, and I found a great recipe where you chop up endive and carmelize it at high heat with a little but of sugar... delicous!

Sunni

That's very good advice on cooking greens, Sunni. Thanks.

Jim

OK, after reading this, I now have to go out and pick my radish greens to ass to a stir-fry tonight. They are yummy, too! I LOVE chard, spinach (while it lasts), turnip greens.

i love kale sauteed with onions, dill, and polish sausage. I have even done this in the summer when the leaves are a bit bitter (just adding some brown sugar to cut the bitterness).

Susan,

Exactly what do you intend to do to those radish greens????

Hehehehe.

I hope they are good. LOL.

Jim

Jim- you're welcome! I wish I could take credit for it, but really it is the folks who put out "Cook's Illustrated". If anyone is intersted, the book is "The Best Recipe", where they go through the process of making the best version of many common things (and a few less common) then tell you what worked, what didn't, and why! It's an awesome book!

Also good to know I'm not the only one who saw the funny typo in Susan's post. :) My mind is coming up with all sorts of ideas as to what that could mean for those greens... :)

Sunni

Oh wow--I meant add lol!!!!!

I also found green peas very easy to grow besides chard and mustard during the wet season. I know its not really greens but I use the shoots as greens. Olive oil + garlic + pea greens. Yummy.

My landlady taught me. You buy collards which have a thick stalk on the bottom. Cut off that thick stalk and plant it (in the same direction it was when you bought it, bottom down in your pot or garden) in some cow manure or MiracleGro. Keep watered. Watch the leaves grow. The more you pick the leaves, the more they grow.
I grow kale also, but we bought the plants from Home Depot. Did not try to grow from seeds yet.
Here is how I cook collards and kale. My African American neighbor laughs at me, but this is very tasty.
First I boil down the greens until they get soft. Then I drain them, put some olive oil in a frying pan, gently cook some garlic, parsley, onion, a little hot pepper if you want, we grow wild tomatoes, so those are always in the mix, maybe also some cooked beets or green beans, then I add the kale or collards and heat thoroughly. YUMMY and super-healthy. You can also top a microwaved sweet potato with this cooked mixture. I'm a vegetarian, so for me, this is the entree, but you can use it as a side dish.
You can also grow collards from seeds, but HEY, that takes forever. The "stalk" method is 100% better.
I eat greens every day. They are high in calcium. A lot of women need extra calcium.
LMK if you have any questions. Carolyn in Broward County, Florida, zone 10.
johnmillerz2003 (at) yahoo.com