ADD SOME PIZZAZZ
Other less common, yet more flavorful greens, add spice to the mix. Depending on your taste, include some piquant greens such as arugula and ‘Osaka Purple’ mustard greens. ‘Wrinkled Crinkled Crumpled’ cress is unique for its savoyed leaves. Broccoli raab, a sprouting broccoli, (also known by such names as raab, rapa, rapini, and spring broccoli) is sumptuous stir-fried in olive oil and garlic, served on pasta.
Other greens add interesting form and color, with their own unique flavors. Mache, Valerianella locusta) also known as corn salad, has a sweet, nutty flavor. Endive and radicchio have slightly bitter taste. Curly endives, such as ‘Tres Fin,’ have finely dissected, curly leaves. Oriental greens round out the medley. From mizuna to tatsoi, pac choi, bok choy, and komatsuna and their cultivars, there is an assortment of new, vitamin-filled greens to try.
ROOT FOR OTHER VEGGIES
Radishes grow quickly and add a nice crunch to any dish. ‘Easter Egg II’ is a mixture of white, plum purple-, cherry red, and rosy pink skinned radishes. Sow seeds every five to seven days for an extended harvest.
Small carrots, such as one-half-inch, round ‘Thumbelina’ (1992 AAS winner) or ‘Mokum’, which is one of the best-tasting carrots to pull at “baby” stage, deserve some space. If the temperatures remain cold, cover the plants with at least six inches of natural mulch such as hay, so you can harvest fresh carrots well into winter.
Even if you don’t grow ‘Bull’s Blood’ beet for the tasty root—excellent harvested when only two to three inches—plant it for the deep, vibrant red leaves. Picked young, they are a superlative addition to a salad; when they are larger, cook the leaves as you would spinach, or use them in a stir-fry.
PANSY PARTY
Pansies are such a cheerful addition to any garden. Much has been written about their versatility as a fall flower, and bedding plants are readily available in nurseries for fall planting. However, the selection from seed is much more diverse—and easy to grow. The unexpected bonus of fall pansies: keep deadheading the plants. Even in Zone 5, each time the snow melts there are the pansies ready to burst into flower. AAS winners ‘Maxim Marina’ (1991) and ‘Ultima Morpho’ (2002) are among the most colorful.
HARVEST TIME
Whether you are gathering lettuce, chard, spinach, kale, chicory, or other greens, you can get the most out of these leafy plants by picking only as many outer leaves as you will use for the next meal. As long as the temperatures stay at least ten to fifteen degrees above freezing during the day, the plants will continue to produce new leaves at the center of the plant. Instead of cutting and bringing in the entire plant, harvesting a few leaves at a time can extend the harvest through winter right into early spring—if the weather cooperates (or you have a cold frame.)
Of the root vegetables, only radishes need to be pulled up at maturity when their flavor and texture are at their peak. The chosen selections of the others—carrots, turnips, and beets—are equally good harvested young or at maturity.
Enjoy the wide selection of easy-to-grow fall edibles that deliver great taste and a range of colors to enhance nutritious meals.
Don't overlook colorful lettuces and Brussels sprouts so beautiful even the kids will eat them.
Written by Cathy Wilkinson Barash for the National Garden Bureau
