Salad leaves
When talking about salad leaves, iceberg lettuce and the Italian salad leaves come to mind but there are so many more in this category. Punchy mustard and rocket leaves take salads to another level, whereas chard and Pak Choi can be used in cooked and partner roast dinners, stir frys and gourmet dishes to complement the main component (meat, fish or veggie and vegan showstoppers).
The great attributes about salad leaves are that they can be ready in 2 weeks and can be grown in many climates throughout the year on a windowsill, outdoors or in a greenhouse. As the leaves are often soft and low lying you will need to protect them from pigeons, slugs, snails and flea beetles as well as rotting in wet soil. If wet soil is an issue where you are try growing with gravel or wood chippings mixed in to soil, which due to their sharper texture can deter snails and slugs. They can be grown in pots on their own or with taller veggies as salad leaves can provide ground cover suppressing weeds.
Many urban food producers grow salad leaves in disused buildings or repurposed shipping containers on shelves with UV lights. Due to the popularity small UV grow sets have become available on the market should you wish to try this.
Warm weather Lettuces
There are many kinds of lettuce from the larger, tightly packed iceberg, to the small, open leafy varieties. Many lettuces require the warmth of late spring - early autumn. The heat loving types form the largest category, which includes Bativa, oak leaf, endive, Belgium endive, lolla rossa, Romaine, salad leaf mixes (mixed greens, which are actually various greens, reds and purples), radicchio, spinach, and the small heart shaped little gem.
Sow these varieties from March - September providing you with a potential 2-3 seasons of fresh juicy leaves. Some varieties take longer to fully grow than others but expect 6 - 8 weeks. If you live in a very cool climate, the mixed salad leaves can be picked as young 'cut and come again' salad plants.
Warm weather leaves includes most spicy leaves like rocket but they have be grouped below due to their culinary uses.
Winter salad leaves
These are the hardier varieties that can grow throughout winter either undercover such as a windowsill or green house or outside with a cloche to protect from frosts. All year round, dandelion leaves, lambs lettuce, American land cress (does not look like cress), miner's lettuce, mizuna, mizuno, watercress. Cress would also be suitable for a year round crop.
These can be sown direct in a sunny area or undercover around 1 cm (1/3 inch) deep and 15 - 20 cm (6 - 8 inches) apart. In warm weather expect to pick after just 2 weeks, but during winter allow up to 6 weeks.
Spicy salad leaves
These leaves have a spicy or peppery tone that can add another layer of flavour to salads and garnishes. These include Chrysanthemum Greens, mizuna, red mustard greens (often purple in colour) and rocket, which can be labelled as arugula. Mizuna can grow throughout the year, however, treat the rest as warm weather lettuce sowing from March to September and allow 6 - 8 weeks before harvesting.
Salad leaves to cook
Hardier and slightly tougher lettuce plants such as bok Choi, chard (any colour), pak Choi and even spinach are used in cooking. Radicchio and little gem braise well on a grill but fall apart in sauces. Associated with East Asian cuisine these leafy heroes make a great accompaniment to many meals from roasts, stir frys, BBQ, cooked salads and curries.
The leaves do not need long to cook, just a 2-3 minutes due to their fragility and water content. You could also use rocket on a cooked salad or a pizza either during the last couple of minutes in the oven or drop on fresh. Although from different plant groups, kale and pea shoots can be cooked in the same way.
With the exceptions of little gem and radicchio above, sow direct from January or undercover from November in cells. Leaves can be ready in 1 month, however, pak choi can be the size of a cabbage so it will take longer to develop its heart and reach a larger size so allow 45 - 60 days.
