Edible Landscapes: Add Leafy Garden Greens to Your Yard this Summer

Some people tend to have trouble growing leafy greens throughout the hot steamy days of summer. If you're an expert or beginning gardener you can select the specific leafy greens that can stand the heat and combine them with your landscape giving your a colorful and edible garden.

Sure, most greens are more comfortable during the cool days of early spring or fall, but there are many varieties that are comfortable growing during hotter times. Here is a list of leafy summer greens that great for growing during the warmer seasons and they will keep producing nutritious leaves that can be harvested on a daily basis.

Kale

Leafy Greens for Summer Garden Production

Collards – One of the hardiest of all greens, collards can grow through the summer just as easily as it survives cold winter conditions out in the garden.
Kale – Not quite as tolerant as collard greens, kale is capable of providing summer greens from the garden. Tuscan Black Palm Kale is an especially good variety for summer production. These can expand to produce a nice light to vibrant green low growing ground plant.


Giant Red Mustard

 Mustard – Not everyone’s favorite because of its spicy flavor, mustard greens will grow well during summer. Try Red Giant and pick the leaves young to add color and some kick to salads. This is a great example picture of how leafy greens can add a unique touch to your landscape.
Amaranth – These plants are very ornamental and will grow over five feet tall. In addition to the edible leaves the plant also produces a seed cluster that can be used as a grain.

Amaranth

Orach – Another attractive leafy green that is seldom seen in the vegetable garden. This beautiful plant is offered in a number of strains and is usually reddish or green in color. These are beautiful and unique even for deck potted plants.
Lambs Quarters – This one is an “edible weed” that tastes better than many of the greens cultivated in the garden. You may be trashing this wild plant without realizing it is edible.
Dandelion – Another edible weed with cultivated strains and close relatives that can all be grown for food. Dandelions won’t struggle a bit under the summer’s growing conditions.

Lambs Quarters

Malabar Spinach – This unusual leafy vegetable even thrives in the tropics and once established it can be cut to the ground and it will resprout and continue to grow.
Swiss Chard – Take care of those despicable leaf miners and your Swiss Chard will have no trouble at all in withstanding all that the summer season can throw at it. These plants have beautifully colorful stalks that can also add to the aestetic of your landscape.

Swiss Chard

Beet Greens – Don’t overlook vegetables like red beets that are typically grown for their roots or fruits, but also produce leaves that make excellent greens!

That’s just a partial list of heat tolerant summer greens but that’s enough to give you a feel for the options available to raise greens during even the hottest days of of the year. Obviously you will have to be aware of wildlife that might enjoy your edible landscape but these are also great options for those with fenced yards, deck pots and front yards that tend to be frequented less by animals.