Which Leafy Green Variety is the Best for Growing in Summer Heat?
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
- What happens when you plant 15 varieties of leafy greens into brutal summer heat with no protection? Well, in our experience, only a couple will survive and thrive.
We learned the hard way last summer that our climate is too hot and dry for most greens during the warmest months of the year. So this year, we tried to grow all 15 of our favorite leafy greens in full sun with no special care or protection to see which ones can stand up to the heat and give us a good harvest. To our surprise, only two of them really came out on top with a few more coming close.
This video is for you if you want to grow leafy greens in a super hot climate and are tired of bolting, wilting, and bitter leaves.
Our heat tolerant leafy green experiment winners:
1. Chijimisai
2. Frisee Endive
Our heat tolerant leafy green runner ups:
1. Red Veined Sorrel
2. Slow Bolt Arugula
Our heat tolerant leafy green honorable mentions:
1. Shungiku Chrysanthemum Greens
2. Tatsoi
Full List of Leafy Greens we grew:
1. Bronze Mignonette Lettuce
2. Oakleaf Lettuce
3. Prizehead Leaf Lettuce
4. Spinach Bloomsdale LS
5. Frisee Endive
6. Rouge de Verona Radicchio
7. Slow Bolt Arugula
8. Mizuna
9. Red Streak Mizuna
10. Mibuna
11. Chirimen Hakusai
12. Tokyo Bekana Mustard
13. Tatsoi
14. Chijimisai
15. Yod Fah Broccoli
#gardening #homesteading #growyourownfood
Hey there, I really appreciate the content. Somehow you seem to have the answers to the exact questions I'm dwelling on. I also really like your straight-forward, no BS approach. Looking forward to seeing the channel grow, the quality definitely warrants it.
I really genuinely appreciate that note of appreciation. I hope we continue to hit on relevant topics for you and you stick around =)
I'm editin' up a video on increasing tomato yields right now!
Paris Cos Romaine is another amazingly heat tolerant lettuce
Thank you! I need to grow some more heading and semi-heading lettuce this fall. Appreciate the recommendation =)
As much as I love experimenting I'm excited to see where this video goes.
Hey great video! Now you have me wanting to grow some endive, it looks very similar to the salanova lettuce I've been growing for my farmers market. It's hard to find heat tolerant greens so appreciate the video
Great experiment
Thank you! Hope you enjoyed the video =)
I'm surprised. I grew radicchio over summer in Florida. Not one plant bolted. It's so bitter to start with, I couldn't tell if the heat made it worse. I would figure it to come out high on the list.
Yeah, I've actually got some radicchio now in this area that's been there for over a year I believe. So it seems that only some of the plants failed catastrophically. They're pretty darn bitter though =/
Thks. If I find Endive transplants I may try that. I have good luck in cool weather with kale, spinach, collards, arugula….of course(cool temps). We have had a cool spring….so we were able to munch on the still growing greens into early May.
Ahna Atlanta Ga
We had a cool Spring as well! Still enjoying even lettuce right now which is just plain odd (for my garden anyhow)!
I would suggest not growing them in pots but down in the ground with lots of mulch. Many of them will be wilty when it heats up but perk up during the evening so you have to plan on harvesting in the morning. I've seen misters set up as well as extra watering.
Thanks for watching and great tips!
I really like the idea of experimenting with misters as a failsafe to run during heat waves to save the harvest. Will definitely noodle on that for next year; we hope to do a part two of this =)
I think your mystery runner up might be the Radicchio. My Radicchio looks similar to that and it is extremely bitter growing through the cool season, I cant imagine how bitter it would get growing in hot weather and difficult conditions. The variety I have is Radicchio Castelfranco, which in photos is a pale yellow with red speckles and a heading habit. Mine is a large green leaf with a few red flecks. I am wondering now if Radicchio needs to be blanched during growth like celery or cauliflower to get that appearance that is shown in photos and on the seed pack. I have grown this Radicchio twice now and just get a green leaf. Maybe the blanching also helps with the flavor and decreases the bitterness. Thanks for the video. I grew Chijimisai through the winter and it did well but started getting a lot of aphids once the weather started getting into the 70s so I gave it to the chickens. I wonder how it would have done if I had left it in.
I like how quickly radicchio germinates but I'm not sold on it otherwise either. I think the frisee endive is much better all around (flavor and growth habits) if you want to grow something in the Cichorium genus =)
@@NextdoorHomestead Ive got a bunch of frisee endive growing, I love it. It forms a really long thick tap root like Swiss Chard so I think that's why it is such a hardy plant. Looking forward to your next video :)
For your two winners.... What's you favorite way to use or prepare them? Soups? Salads? Stir fry? Thanks again
Salads and stir fries! The frisee endive is a touch bitter and you want it's texture to shine IMO. We do make a lot of soups but generally with the milder greens =)
I'm a big fan of stir fries because I find they mellow out even poorly grown plants with meh flavor ;)
Salads and stir frying? Awesome! My kinds veg
I haven't even heard of many of these! Approximately how many hours of sun did each bed get? I need to rewatch this. Just started growing greens. They're so cheap here. Would be nice to grow some unique varieties.
Quite a lot of variation in sunlight hours because the low sun angle in our shoulder seasons really emphasizes the effect of a large hedge next to the garden. We tried to plant each of them in a few spots though.
Anyhow to be more specific they would have started with perhaps 5 hours and gotten up to maybe 8 hours (which was too much for any of them unfortunately).
I really love growing some of the less common (less common here in the States that is) greens and hope they become more popular.
@@NextdoorHomestead nice I will probably have to plant some of these in a good microclimate somewhere in the garden on the north side. Some of the most productive areas in my garden get 12 hours a day but haven't found a green to take that kind of punishment yet 😂😀😂