Leaf beet (or Perpetual spinach), Rainbow chard, Ruby chard, Seakale beet, Spinach beet, Swiss chard…’tis all a variation of the same vegetable, a close relative to the beet. It is a sturdy, savory green that tastes equally delicious raw in salads as it does wilted as a side dish – or baked into a particularly delicious strata dish involving eggs, cheese, sausage, and bread.
…as opposed to growing shelling beans. These are the green (or yellow, or purple) beans you steam or sauté as a nice side dish, or put in that holiday green bean/mushroom soup/fried onion casserole every year.
Cherry propagation, like that of apples, is done by grafting different varieties onto specific rootstocks that will determine how they grow. Cherries are susceptible to canker and silver leaf diseases. Do not attempt to grow cherry trees from seed; instead purchase young, healthy, disease-resistant varieties from a reputable nursery to transplant into your garden.
Basil is an annual herb that is widely used in Mediterranean cuisine – you would be hard-pressed to find a pasta sauce that doesn’t have basil in it. Not to mention it is one of the staple ingredients in pesto (the others being garlic, olive oil, and pinons or walnuts).
A beautiful and tasty annual herb with an ugly name, borage is also a low-maintenance herb. Perfect for those would-be gardeners with the proverbial brown thumb. You have to really try to kill this herb off. So, why not give it a try?
Asparagus is a vegetable best cultivated if you are planning to stay somewhere a good, long while. It is a perennial vegetable (one of the few) that you will not harvest after planting until the third year (if you’ve grown it from seed)…and then with proper care your asparagus plants will last for two decades or longer. No joke. It’s perfect for an edible landscape feature, or a permanent garden border.
Most gardeners do not realize that they do not have to live waist-deep in a bog in order to grow their own cranberries. Highbush cranberries (viburnum trilobum) come in several varieties, including Alfredo, Early Black, Howes, Stevens, and Wentworth, that have been specifically bred as shrubs, some of which can grow as tall as 15 feet. Hand-picking is all that’s required, rather than flooding a field and floating the berries like logs in a boom.
Why so many different plants in one post? Well, they’re all members of the same family (asteraceae) and genus (cichorium) and have remarkably similar planting requirements and growing conditions. Chicory belongs to the species intybus, and radicchio is a chicory variety. Endive belongs to the species endivia, and escarole and frisee are endive varieties. All of them are cool weather vegetables that tend to bolt during the heat of summer. They make it possible to enjoy salad all year long.
Apricot propagation, like that of apples, is done by grafting different varieties onto specific rootstocks that will determine how they grow. Apricots are susceptible to brown rot, canker, and silver leaf diseases. Do not attempt to grow apricot trees from seed; instead purchase young, healthy, disease-resistant varieties from a reputable nursery to transplant into your garden.
Arugula, otherwise known as Rocket or Salad Rocket, is a tangy addition to green salads and cold pasta dishes. It is a cool season crop that will bolt with too much heat; however, do not be dismayed if your arugula bolts – while the leaves will be too bitter to eat, the edible flowers will make a colorful and flavorful addition to your dishes.
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