Here are three easy winter greens to pick from your garden. They are typically ones that are overlooked. I love to find the simple abundance in my permaculture garden and eat from plants in a way that they can replenish themselves. This way many future harvests of the plant can be enjoyed. This cold weather has meant that my summer greens have finally started to retreat. It's been fun exploring different flavours. I've been wandering around my garden taste-testing fresh greens and filmed a few of the pickings. Here's a 2:38 minute clip showing which ones I chose and how I harvest them. (click on the image below to watch).
Pea greens
Harvest the young shoots, tender upper leaves, soft stems and spiralling tendrils of pea vines - typically snap pea and snow peas. Select ones so as to avoid interrupting the healthy growth of the vine for pea production. They are healthy greens - a good source of beta carotene, vitamin C, folate and fibre. These greens are commonly used in Asian dishes. They can be quickly sauteed or stir-fried, or eaten raw in salad. You can use them instead of (or as well as) other leafy greens - they have a lovely taste that is a cross between baby spinach and peas.
Brassica shoots
You can still eat from the brassica plants that start to go to seed in your vegetable garden. Snip off the florets and eat them raw or cooked. As long as the shoot is supple, it is a great vegetable. Snipping out these florets also helps to prolong the leaf-growing stage of your brassica. The flowering tips have been used in a range of cuisines all over Asia and Eastern Europe. There are so many vitamins, minerals, nutrients and fibre in these lovely flavoursome greens. Eat the flowers too!
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