Planting Mixed Greens Bed in the Garden
Planting Mixed Greens
On this week's episode, Travis is demonstrating how to easily plant mixed greens in the vegetable garden. We recommended using the wheel hoe and garden seeder to create these productive elevated green beds in the garden. You can use either the Single Wheel Hoe or the Double Wheel Hoe and attach one plow blade to help throw dirt to the middle. Then, Travis will take a rake to smooth out the area and apply compost to prepare the beds for planting mixed greens. Once the beds are prepared for planting, it's time to plant with our garden seeder. The seeder has six seed plates that ensure accurate planting of various seed size varieties. Travis is using the number one seed plate for planting mixed greens meaning we will get a little over 1-inch spacing which would be good and tight for the beds we are planting in. Travis planted the mixed greens about a quarter-inch deep in the garden and allowed the weight of the garden seeder to compact and press the seed down for great seed to soil contact for germination. Another important key to planting mixed greens is they need to be hand-watered about twice a day in order to get excellent germination until they come up and get established in the garden. If you prefer to transplant the mixed greens we recommend using our seed starting trays. This ensures the plants will develop solid root balls that will make germination and productivity better when planted in the garden.
Mixed Green Varieties
The premium greens mix that we offer has a combination of popular greens that are used in salads, stir-frys, or any other lettuce substituted dish in the kitchen. When harvesting this mixed greens variety use a sharp knife and cut the leaves off once they have reached your desired size. If you want a little more milder flavor green, you should harvest when the leaves are rather small. If you prefer a bolder flavor allow your leaves to grow larger before harvesting from the garden. The mixed greens will continue to grow all throughout the growing season for a productive repeat harvesting. The different varieties that the premium greens mix includes are tatsoi, mizuna, arugula, and red Russian kale. The Tatsoi greens are an Asian style mustard variety that makes really productive smaller leaves with excellent flavor profiles. Then, the Mizuna greens contain a milder flavor profile, excellent texture, and bright green appearance. While the Arugula produces the longer darker leaves that do best when planted during the cool season growing months. This variety of green is known to be easier to germination and have maximum production in the vegetable garden. Lastly, the Red Russian Kale contains flat leaves that have purple veins that will intensify when encountered with frost.
Other Green Varieties
Along with the greens varieties, we offer a few productive mustard varieties for the vegetable garden. The Southern Giant Curled mustard is known as a southern favorite and produces larger yields for crisp and curled leaves that have the traditional "mustard green" flavor profile. Another popular mustard variety is the Florida Broadleaf that produces light green smooth leaves that can be harvested early as baby leaf or left in the garden to grow to full size for a larger harvest. The Red Mustard Green is another variety that contains a rather bolder flavor profile that will intensify as the greens become larger in the vegetable garden. This variety works well for multiple harvestings throughout the growing seasons. It also does well in any salad mix or stir-fry recipes around the homestead.