Green thumb
Grow enough greens for your family until the end of the year
Does the price of iceberg lettuce make you worried about feeding your family nutritious greens? How about growing your own greens instead? You can pick them when you want and at their optimal nutritional value.
If you have ever bought a packed of mixed salad greens, they mostly contain a wide range of easy-to-grow greens and herbs, all of which can be grown in old tubs or foam boxes. Here are some suggestions to fill four tubs with enough greens to feed a large family until Christmas.
A cheap potting mix is adequate to fill the tub but it will need some extra fertiliser – a large 15kg bag of poultry manure can be purchased for under $20 and that will last the whole season and provide all the nutrients that green vegetables require. Start a compost bin so that in future, you can make your own fertiliser and nutrient-rich potting medium.
Place the tubs where they will receive at least four hours direct sunshine. Put the tubs up on wedges to ensure good drainage and fill them almost to the top with the soil, and water the mix to dampen. Ensure that when you water, the drainage from the tubs is directed away from the house or any item it might damage.
To start the garden, buy one pack of each of these seeds either online or direct from one of the many outlets in Far North Queensland, the price is about $3.50 per packet. The easy growing salad greens that fill the supermarket packet are likely to be rocket, basil, amaranth, sorrel, radicchio, endive, salad mallow, coriander, mustard spinach, and cos verdi lettuce.
Sprinkle rocket seed along one edge of the tub; it will be up within three days and ready to eat within a month. Side dress the rocket every few week with a little compost to keep its vigour.
Basil grows almost as quickly as rocket and can be planted in the same tub; there are a wide range of flavours to choose. Genovese, spicy globe and lemon basil are best in salads.
Amaranth garnet red or green callaloo are also fast-growing and will be ready for first pick within the month. Sprinkle seed lightly at the back of the tub to fill.
The next tub can be planted with seed that takes a little longer to germinate. Sorell (Rumex sp) is available in green, red-veined and French types. The leaves have a distinct lemon flavour and will grow in part shade; for best flavour, harvest young leaves. Seeds germinate in 10 days and are ready to harvest in 40 days.
Radicchio is another long-lived green with germination and harvest time around the same as Sorell. Radicchio red Verona will hold its red colour and form a firm heart in the cooler months; in summer it grows loose leaf and green.
Endive salad king is the best variety to grow in FNQ as it is vigorous, hardy and resists bolting. Older leaves can become bitter but the tender new leaves at the heart are less so. A spoon of honey in the salad dressing quickly changes the flavour of this fast-growing nutritious salad green.
In tub three, plant salad mallow (Malu Khia), it will grow to one metre and the young leaves are a good lettuce substitute. Around the edge of the mallow plant coriander seed. Coriander seeds take 10 days to germinate and are shortlived; replant every six weeks after harvest.
Plant mustard spinach (brassica rapa) in the centre of the fourth tub. The spinach has light green, serrated leaves that have a nutty mustard flavour. Young mustard spinach leaves can be used raw in salads, and the older leaves added to soups and stews.
Cos lettuce can be planted around the edge of the tub and be planted again in rotation as it is used. Cos lettuce types come in a wide variety: crisp green firm hearted, freckled loose leafed, deep red leaves with a firm heart and dwarf varieties. Cos lettuce is easy to grow and slow to bolt in hot humid weather but it requires a neutral pH and highly nutritious soil. Poor soil will send lettuce to seed.
All up cost will be; four foam boxes rescued, $0; four bags of potting mix $25; one bag of fertiliser $20; 10 packets of seed $35; total $80. Less than $4 a week for green vegetables over the next six months and lots of great family fun.