Early Greens to Beat the Blues by Nancy Taylor Robson

It’s grim outside and looks as though we’ll never have spring, let alone a garden. But if there’s one thing that gardening helps to teach, (among many things), it’s renewal. Which is where early greens come in.

“They’re usually the first thing out of the garden,” says Theresa Mycek, production manager of Unity Nursery Church Hill, MD.

Winters like this one may thwart gardeners anxious to get a jump on the season, but nutrient-packed dark, leafy greens can help.

“Spinach and cilantro you can direct seed in the field as soon as you can work the soil,” says Bob Arnold of Arnold Farms in Chestertown.

‘As soon as you can work the soil’ is one of those rules of thumb that can flummox the newer gardener. Stick a finger in the soil about an inch down. If it’s chilly but not cold (above fridge temp), and moist but a little crumbly, it will likely work.

“They germinate when the air and soil temperatures are about 45-50F,” says Michael Pappas, farmer at biointensive Eco Farms in Lanham, MD.

Fortunately, the early greens are both determined and forgiving. Long prized as a spring ‘cleanse’ after stodgy winter fare, early greens include a terrific range of things from Asian greens like Hon Tsai Tai, Komatsuna, and Tatsoi (brassicas i.e. cabbage family), to Arugula (Aruca), Garden Cress (Nasturtium, Barbarea or Lepidium, depending), Shungiku (edible Chrysanthemum), Corn Salad (Mache), and Orach (Atriplex hortensis) aka mountain spinach, whose ‘Oracle’ variety is a lovely purply red. Plus, they’re packed with vitamins and minerals according to the National Kidney Foundation.

And they’re great in a variety of dishes – salads, stir fries, soups, tempura, savory pancakes, casseroles, even mashed into a panini or sandwich. And it’s SO encouraging to see little edible things emerging again.

“We sow little baby versions of the mesclun mix greens like baby amaranth, herbs, chervil, cilantro, baby radish, buckwheat, cabbages, even sunflower,” says Pappas, who supplies area chefs.

If the soil and temperatures don’t cooperate, you can get a leg up by starting them inside in a bright window, or under full spectrum (‘grow)’ lights, or in a greenhouse, which is where I found Mycek on drizzly Tuesday.

“I’m seeding lettuce,” she said. “This year we’re growing Alkindus butterhead from Johnny’s and Brown Goldring lettuce from Seed Savers, which is green with a blush. And Adriana is a kind of all-purpose dark green butterhead that’s good early and through summer, and so is French Crisp Muir since they’re heat tolerant.”

Adriana butterhead and ruffle-leafed Muir are two Batavia ‘summer crisp’ or French crisp lettuces bred to tolerate summer heat. They tend to be a little thicker-leafed, which helps to protect them against short cold spells and enables them to retain enough moisture in their leaves to keep going when everything else is scorched.

t must have been lettuce day last Tuesday since like Mycek, Bob Arnold was also seeding some in his greenhouse when I phoned.

“We’ve seeded the lettuces, beets. Beet tops are probably more nutritious than spinach,” he said, “broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli, two types of kale.”

In addition to offering a smorgasbord of choices, early greens are speed demons, going from seed to harvest somewhere between 35 and 55 days depending on variety and when you choose to cut.

“We cut before the true secondary leaf comes out,” says Pappas. “The flavor is sublime, a bright accent to fish or chicken and in salads.”

They’re economical to grow yourself, and most also have a broad harvest window – anywhere from leaves 2-3 inches tall to full grown Pac Choi, which holds a long time in the garden without bolting or growing bitter. And most greens are cut-and-come-again. Even butterhead lettuces can offer additional second-growth leaves provided you cut an inch above the main stem and leave the root and bottom of the head intact.

Exceptions to the huge harvest window are things like Green Lance where you’re shooting for little unopened flower clusters of baby broccoli. The perfect clusters, which suddenly appear one day, will hold maybe two days if it’s cool. Wait any longer, especially if it’s warm, and you’re harvesting bolted bitter blooms instead of buds. Yet even with the narrow harvest window of some brassicas, you can double and triple your pleasure with successive sowings, which also lets you play with varieties and compare flavors while you still have a taste-memory of what appealed to family and friends.

PLANTING AND CUTTING GREENS

For the greens that want a slightly warmer soil temp, lettuces for example, you can start them in flats in a bright room, under full-spectrum lights or direct seed them in the garden when danger of hard frost has past (anyone’s guess these days). Master Gardener Debbie Viadero-Rogers recently started lettuce in a sunny room.

“I planted Buttercrunch so that I can have some robust seedlings to transfer to my cold frame in a couple of weeks,” she says. “I’m just experimenting to see if I can get bigger heads and because I do succession planting, and it would be nice for the lettuces to finish before the next crop goes in. I also have old spinach and endive seeds wrapped in damp paper towels to see if they’re still good for planting this year. I’ll stick them in peat pots, too, if they sprout.”

When sowing, you can broadcast seeds in a raised bed for a thatch effect, but it’s easier to weed and thin when they’re planted in rows. Laying on a layer of row cover once things are in the garden lets them knot you care, helps to protect seeds and seedlings from wild temperature fluctuations, and wards off marauding birds and bugs.

And by all means use the microgreen thinnings. If you’ve never tried to grow early greens, Pappas suggests starting off with radishes.

“You can harvest in 21 days. It can be extremely satisfying,” says Pappas.  “You can even do it on a windowsill in a box. It’s great for kids.”

Longtime journalist, essayist. and garden writer, Nancy Taylor Robson is also the author of four books: the memoir Woman in The Wheelhouse; award-winning Course of the Waterman; A Love Like No Other: Abigail and John Adams, a Modern Love Story; and OK Now What? A Caregiver’s Guide to What Matters, which she wrote with Sue Collins, RN.