Heat tolerant greens for Texas
Our Texas warm season comes on quick and fast and if you’ve ever grown a salad garden before, you know those leafy greens do not love our heat!
While we love a good fall-winter salad garden full of plants and seeds you can sow every few weeks for continual harvests, it can be so sad when February and March roll around and you know our heat is right around the corner.
This is why I’ve compiled a list of seeds you should be putting in all your empty spaces to keep the salad rolling in, well into the spring.
I recommend starting your fall salad garden from seed in late August, and then sow seeds in any empty spaces from August through March. The greens you should prioritize for February and March are these that are more heat tolerant - several can be tried in April and May as well!
Matador Spinach
Enjoyed as a baby green or for it’s large, smooth, easy-to-clean mature leaves, you can harvest off the same plant using the cut-and-come-again approach for weeks on end. It does fantastically as a cooked ingredient in pasta dishes.
New Zealand Spinach
This heirloom variety was served on Captain Cook’s ship to prevent scurvy due to it’s high vitamin C content. It’s not a “true” spinach, but it does allow you to enjoy the spinach flavor for months as it grows happily in the garden year round.
Red Russian Kale
While many kales need a little chill in the air to sweeten up, this kale variety is sweet all the time. With uniquely shaped leaves and red stems, this heirloom variety is a gorgeous addition to your home kitchen garden!
Nero Toscana Kale
Gourmet chefs favor this heirloom variety for it’s wavy, dark green, giant leaves. In just a few weeks after sowing seeds you can enjoy baby greens from this plant, or wait 2 months for it’s full grown glory.
Celebration Swiss Chard
With it’s brightly colorful stems, this is a stunning addition to your kitchen garden. It adorns the raised beds beautifully, growing large, upright leaves that can be harvested individually or in the entire bunch. If you are a chard fan and want to keep the party going well into the warm season, this is the one for you.
Edible Red Leaf Amaranth
Steam, stir fry or sauté, it’s tangy spinach flavor and love of the warmer months makes Amaranth a must for any Texas raised bed garden. It is drought tolerant also
Georgia Southern Collard Greens
This heirloom variety has been enjoyed in the south since the 1800s. And if steamed isn’t for you, the large leaves on this variety make for a great gluten-free wrap option!
New Red Fire Leaf Lettuce
Disease resistant and amazing flavor, this red-tipped lettuce will continue to produce well into the warm season for weeks and months. Great on summer sandwiches or salads, there’s nothing like popping out to the garden barefoot-style to grab a lettuce leaf or two for lunch.
Paris Island Cos Romain Lettuce
Ideal for lettuce wraps, this upright heirloom variety has crunchy, sweet leaves and vigorous growth. It can also be enjoyed as a baby green when young, or allowed to grow to it’s large, juicy-stemmed maturity. Give your backyard cookout hamburger a little refreshing crunch this spring!
Want the full list?
When you’re ready to get started, order seeds of these and many more at the button below!