Muskoka Lakes Gardens

A Comprehensive List of Leafy Greens Developed in the 2017 Year

This calendar year I am committed to writing additional in this article about developing leafy greens. In my final article I presented photographic documentation of nearly each just one of my harvests of leafy greens in the 2017 rising season. As promised, this put up is a complete checklist of each individual plant depicted in these photographs. I omitted crops such as beans, Mexican bitter gherkins, or tomatoes that have been often provided, but that I would not prepare and eat as a leafy eco-friendly. Of system, there is generally the prospect that I have missed something…


Try to eat the seedlings you skinny out from backyard beds somewhat than tossing them into the compost bin.

  • Amaranth — Callaloo and other styles.
  • Arugula (leaves and flowers) — Assorted kinds.
  • Assorted spicy and tender mustard environmentally friendly versions
  • Bee balm (Monarda) — I eat the youthful leaves early in the year and deal with them extra as an herb later on.
  • Bloody Dock (Rumex sanguineus)
  • Borage — White and blue. (youthful seedlings and bouquets)
  • Celery
  • Chervil
  • Chicory/Radicchio — Leaves only. Bouquets are technically edible, but I am strongly allergic. Roots of 2nd period crops are harvested and roasted late in the year.
  • Chives (leaves and flowers)
  • Curly Mustard
  • Cress (Lepidium sativum) — assorted types
  • Dandelion
  • Dill
  • ‘Egyptian Walking’ onion (younger greens)
  • Fennel (leaves and bouquets)
  • Garlic (tender young greens)
  • Garlic Chives — 2 types 1, 2 (leaves, flowers, and bulbs)
  • Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
  • Large Red Mustard
  • Goji Berry Leaves — They are ideal steamed, sautéed, or additional to soup.
  • Kale — various kinds
  • Kalettes (like kale meets Brussels sprouts)
  • Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium album)
  • Lettuce — Assorted versions
  • Lovage
  • Maca Leaves (Lepidium meyenii)
  • Mache


Colourful ‘Red Boar’ kale set from a backdrop of Japanese maple leaves in late fall.

  • Malabar Spinach (Basella alba)
  • Mallow
  • Mint
  • Mitsuba aka Japanese Parsley (Cryptotaenia japonica)
  • Mizuna — 3 types
  • Nasturtium — Assorted varieties
  • Oregano — I address this like a environmentally friendly early in the year when the foliage is tender and there is much less assortment obtainable in the back garden.
  • Pansy (bouquets)
  • Parsley
  • Pea shoots and flowers
  • Purple Shiso (Perilla frutescens)
  • Purple Plantain (Plantago significant f. rubrifolia)
  • Purslane
  • Radish (seedlings, leaves, bouquets, young seed pods)
  • Red Orach
  • Rose of Sharon — I favor the young, unopened flower buds, but we consume the petals as nicely.
  • Salad Burnet (Sanguisorba minimal)
  • Sorrel — Regular (Rumex acetosa) and French (Rumex scutatus)
  • Spigarello aka Leaf Broccoli
  • Spinach
  • Squash Blossoms
  • Stinging Nettle
  • Strawberry Leaves — Of course, they are edible Decide on the youngest, freshest leaves. They are best when steamed.
  • Sweet Potato Leaves — Yep, also edible!
  • Swiss Chard
  • Tarragon
  • Tender Mustard Greens (leaves and bouquets)
  • Toothache Plant aka Electrical Daisy (Spilanthes) — I eat this in modest portions because it makes a pretty rigorous working experience of numbing in the mouth.
  • Turnip (leaves and flowers)
  • Wild Italian Arugula (Diplotaxis tenufolia)
  • Violet (youthful leaves and bouquets)
  • Zucchini Leaves — I consume only the tender, new leaves. They are greatest steamed or sautéed.


Radicchio overwinters in cold climates and arrives back as a person of the initial edible leafy greens crops in the early spring.

As you can see, this is fairly a assorted collection and I have not bundled distinct varieties of plants these types of as the mustard greens, of which I develop a broad array. I am open up to any edible weeds that happen to pop up as volunteers. And, of class, I’m often on the lookout for new plants and versions to attempt. I’d like to hear your recommendations if there’s something I have missed in this article.

+ For far more on developing leafy greens, check out out my Lettuce and Salad Greens Expanding Information.

December 24, 2021

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