Yarrawonga Chronicle

Grow your salad greens

— Karen Sutherland Edible Eden Design

What are some easily grown salad and cooking greens for home gardeners?

Unlike many usual seedling punnet greens, many of these are perennial, so they last a long time in the garden, giving good value to gardeners.

If you grow some of these plants in your garden, you’ll be able to forage some leaves and flowers to transform some basic lettuce leaves into a gourmet salad.

➤ French or lemon sorrel, Rumex acetosa, has lush green leaves and enjoys a shaded spot with regular watering and feeding.

➤ Red dock, Rumex sanguineus, has decorative, red-veined leaves and also enjoys a shaded spot with regular watering and feeding.

➤ Perpetual spinach grows in shade, in spots silverbeet and spinach can’t manage.

➤ Nasturtiums, Tropaeolum majus, come in the usual trailing types, such as ‘‘Jewel’’ or ‘‘Alaska’’ and easier to control clumping types, such as ‘‘Empress of

India’’ or ‘‘Black Velvet’’.

➤ Native violets, Viola hederacea, don’t flower much in winter, but you can use the younger, softer, brighter green leaves in salads throughout the year.

➤ Flat leaf parsley, Petroselinum neapolitanum, is an often overlooked plant that should be part of every food garden. It doesn’t need the best position, can be grown in the shade as well as full sun, and is known for sending its long roots deep down into the soil as a nutrient miner.

➤ Chickweed, Stellaria media, is packed with health-giving chlorophyll and sweet flavours, just waiting to be added to salads or smoothies or green goddess sauces.

Country Life

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2021-06-15T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-15T07:00:00.0000000Z

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