Growing our greens

Seedlings ©Janet AllenSome seedlings for a variety of greens

Greens provide an essential part of our diet—year round.

We grow large amounts of lettuce, some swiss chard, and enough spinach to have enough to freeze for the winter.

We also grow a variety of other greens.

(We grow a lot of collards and kale, too, but we describe them in the cole section.

Starting the plants

Pots of lettuce seedlings ©Janet AllenPots of lettuce seedlings

I start the greens other than spinach indoors in six-packs and find that the germination rate is high enough to need just one or two seeds in each cell.

Starting them indoors lets me transplant the seedlings the right distance apart in the garden. Like many gardeners, when I sow seed directly there are either far more that germinate than are needed or very few that germinate.

(I haven't yet learned to cover the area with burlap or something similar to protect the seeds from heavy rains.)

Harvest record

YR LB $/lb* Savings Notes
15 · ·
14 4 · ·
13 7 · · ·
12 11 · · ·
11 40 · · ·
10 81 · · ·
09 67 · · ·

* We're guessing at the price per pound of organic produce.