We have had a lot of success this year with lettuce and the oriental veg we have planted quite regularly since March. The problems we’ve had with the leaves have been with the rocket, spinach and chard, which have pretty much gone to seed as soon as they started producing leaves.
Quite annoying. To get around this we planted ‘Leaf Beat’ or ‘Perpetual Spinach’ as it is also known. It tastes just like spinach, but seems to grow a lot quicker, and doesn’t bolt! We’ve had two harvests this week as a side dish with our dinner, with a few cashew nuts thrown in, much better than buying bagged lettuce from the shop!
As the weather is a little duller this time of year i’ve decided to put a little rocket and chard into see what happens. Hopefully, it will grow well, and we’ll have a harvest well into the winter like last year!
Tags: leaf beet, perpetual spinach
August 8th, 2008 at 5:52 am
That looks lovely, VM! Mine is very weedy by comparison, but then I sowed it in the space between two lines of peas and I don’t think it got enough sun. I have some seeds left, though, so I’ll try again in a better spot.
A good tip for chard, btw, is to remove any flowering stems as soon as they appear. I’ve been doing that with my ruby chard and it’s still going strong - the bantams adore it, so any big tough leaves or flowering bits get fed to them. I just have to make sure it’s well fenced off, otherwise there’d be none for us!
August 8th, 2008 at 8:47 am
My perpetual spinach has been great too. I like it wilted and then added to Greek yoghurt when cold. I’m definitely growing it again, the snails and slugs don’t seem to like it as much as other stuff either.
August 10th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Lucky you! I have had a total spinach disaster this year, I don’t think any of the perpetual spinach even germinated and the true spinach was rapidly eaten by the growing slug community. Yours looks very tasty, I am quite jealous!
August 12th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I have had a lot of success with Spinach/lettuce and mixed salad leaves since May. We have been harvesting and eating regular side salads for some months now at least 2-3 times a week
All that from a 3 foot elevated wooden container.
I have just emptied it and ‘thrown’ a load more seeds in and they have germinated in 2 days, even with my son trying to dig them up with his plastic shovel everytime im not looking grrr!!
The stawberries I have grown from seed in my hanging basket are starting to turn red as well.. happy days
I will save you a strawberry or two when I see you on the weekend VM
August 17th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Anne - thanks for the tip on the Chard, i did it, and the leaves have filled out which is great!
Elaine - true, it is definately not preferred as much by the sluggies and snails.
Amy - that’s not good! I find continuing to plant loads of it until it works is a good plan.
Gav - Dead impressed with what you’ve done matey, you’ll be getting an allotment next! Cheers for a wicked weekend!
August 25th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
I’m a great believer in chard & perpetual spinach. I grow them in great quatities for myself & my rabbits. They do resist slugs pretty well but in wet summers such as this one even they will be attacked. Also some perp spinach will bolt. I’ve had great success & great failures with it. I think it’s down to the quality of the seed but I haven’t fully worked this out. Also they will survive not-too-cold winters and will leaf again in early spring. In my experience this next year’s growth is not as good as the initial year but and the plants will have to be replaced, but they do provide the earliest fresh of the year until the new stuff comes through.
August 26th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
That’s a massive testament! And i bet the rabbits eat the stuff that’s been eaten without being too fussy about the holes!