Asian Greens and Salad Greens (sorry for long post!)

First off this post IS long. The reason for that is I have photos of all these greens because I know that some people will never have heard of them, especially with the Asian greens.

Unfortunately in the SFG book, it doesn't give guidelines with how many to plant per
square foot in the SFG box with Asian greens and salad greens.

Below is a list....

Salad greens:

Sorrel (red vein is variety I'd be growing; very tangy flavor)
Claytonia (miner's lettuce)
Purslane (the salad green NOT the weed)
Mustard greens
Collard greens
turnip greens
Escarole
Radicchio
Endive
Kale

Arugula (a.k.a. rocket; I would be growing the 'wild' variety of it because it's less prone to bolting, and sharper flavor)

Watercress (In the south a variety of watercress known as 'creasy greens' is grown; it is very similar in flavor and appearance to traditional watercress, but much easier to grow; I'll be growing this variety)

Mache (a.ka. lamb's lettuce)

NOTE: Here are some notes for Radicchio and Escarole. Escarole is about the same
size as a head of cabbage; so since you grow one cabbage per square foot, I'm guessing it would be the same for raddichio? Escarole is about the same size as
leaf lettuce, so I'm guessing one per square foot? These are just guesses, I don't know.

Here are links for what the greens look like.....

http://www.skrewtips.com/2007/09/06/the-green-vegetable-series-collard-greens-part-1/

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scene483b.html

http://www.marthastewart.com/286399/escarole-recipes

http://gardener.wikia.com/wiki/File:Endive-1-.jpg

http://www.self.com/health/blogs/healthyself/2011/02/the-healthy-winter-veggie-you.html

http://www.cherrygal.com/greenscreasygreensheirloomseeds2008-p-9997.html

http://foodblogga.blogspot.com/2007/07/wild-arugula-is-hot-iceberg-is-not.html

http://sunshineacre.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/field-notes-turnip-greens-harvest/

http://gotgreensrevolution.com/greens-guide/mustard-greens.html

http://weeds.cropsci.illinois.edu/images/Purslane/index.htm

http://www.agrowingtradition.com/2011/04/harvesting-claytonia.html

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/shopping-storing/food/common-types-lettuce-00000000040426/page8.html

http://athleticfoodie.blogspot.com/2010/05/farmers-market-find-red-veined-sorrel.html


Asian greens (sorry it's such a long list, but there is a ton of them)

Mizuna (Japanese mustard green; pungent, slightly bitter)
Mibuna (another Japanese mustard green; similar to mizuna)
Bok Choi (Chinese cabbage)
Misome (another Japanese green)

Napa cabbage (Chinese cabbage; NOT green cabbage, NOT Bok choi)

Choy Sum (Chinese flowering cabbage)
Pak Choi (baby Bok Choi, which is baby chinese cabbage)
Tatsoi (similar to pak choi in appearance and flavor)
Gai Choy (Chinese mustard cabbage)
Gai Lan (Chinese broccoli)

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/05/seriously-asian-mizuna-japanese-greens.html

http://vegbox-recipes.co.uk/ingredients/pak-choi.php

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-chinese-vegetable-choy-sum-image1323357

http://triplecordcsaorganicproduce.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/tatsoi-salad-with-warm-maple-dressing/

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/vegetablesrecipes/ig/Chinese-Vegetables-Pictures/Chinese_Broccoli_Photo.htm

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Dictionary/N/Napa-cabbage-4986.aspx

http://www.jlifeinternational.com/Seeds/S08.html

http://www.luckymike.com/2011/10/52-foods-week-forty-misome/

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-6602926/stock-photo-bok-choy-brassica-rapa-or-chinese-cabbage-stacked-in-a-supermarket-bin-provide-essential.html

If you are planting seed, either look at the seed packet or if putting in transplants, look the seed packet up online. look for the "thin to" amount on the packet and space accordingly. ex ,thin to 12 inches or more means 1 per ft. thin to 6 inches means 4 per square. This is on page 16 of the SFG book

Hey no worries Feisty!

Great post. Dear to my heart as I myself have only just found the beauty in Asian greens. I happened to pick up a very sick looking but interesting leaved plant for like one dollar on clearance at my locals farmers exchange. I thought what the heck. It is now the size of a shrub, looks AMAZING and i'm loving the zing it gives my salads. You can see on my hoop house videos what it now looks like. I only learned from your post that it is "red streaked" Mizuna. I simply am in love with it. I will look into more of what you have posted for my spring 2012 SFG.

Thanks !!

I grew gai lan at 4/square this summer, but next year, I'll do 9/s. Plant new squares every 2-3 weeks. It's fast growing, and can be replaced by bush beans 4/s., which can then be replaced by gai lan again, in the same year.
j

Here is a picture of my fall garden with Napa Cabbage (2nd row from top) and bok choy (the big plants 3rd row from top). This picture was taken on 11/02/11 and the plants are bigger now except for the bok choy which we ate in won ton soup and also did a stir fry (delicious!).



The Napa cabbage is definitely only 1 per square. My plants are spreading quite a bit. I wonder if they need to be tied up.

The bok choy is also probably one per square. As you can see on mine it spread quite a bit more than the pic in your link. Again, I wonder if these need to be tied. I will probably plant some more and tie them and maybe try 4/square. I also planted baby bok choy (pak choy), however, I did those at 4 per square. I just planted these about a week ago, however, I'm pretty sure 4 per square will be okay.

I want to try some gai lan also and will take janezee's suggestion of 9/sq. However, I am having a hard time finding organic seeds for these.

Aloha -

I have been planting my asian greens (bok choy, pak choy, choi sum, gai choy) 16 per square. More recently I have been planting my other 'small seed' plants (simpson lettuce, mixed salad greens, etc.) 100 per square. I started planting 100 per square when a Seeds of Change mixed green packet suggested planting 1 per inch and then thinning. Instead of thinning, I'm just harvesting at 3-4" in height.

I'm now contemplating planting all of my 'small seed' plants 100 per square.

Any suggestions or comments?

Thanks !

Let me know how that works out for you. 100 per square seems like allot so I would be interested to see how it goes.

This is a photo of Seeds of Change Mesclun Mix planted 100 per square

This is my first attempt at Asian greens. I'm hoping to get spring and fall crops.

I have one little choi sum sprout and am very excited.

This is the spacing I planted:
Baby pak choi - 4/square
Choi sum - 16/square
Bok choi - 9/square
Manoa lettuce - 16/square
Kale - 4/square (seed pack says thin to 18", and some site I found said SFG spacing at 4/square. If it gets to be too much, I figure out I can remove the other three plants.)


As a whole, if the seed packet says thin to:
12″ apart, plant 1 per square
6″ apart, plant 4 per square
4″ apart, plant 9 per square
3″ apart (or less), plant 16 per square

Hope this helps.

A lot of these Asian greens will grow very well in a crowd. Then just trim them and let them re grow. Leaf lettuce and spinach does this well too. So that is how I plant htem, a pinch scattered in a square. Don't thin. Let them grow up tight together and then trim as needed. Exception is my pac choi, I do thin that to about 6/s. We eat the thinnings.