WINTER SALAD PLANTS -B

Week 2 of the plants that are suitable for planting as a winter salad crop.


Barbarea vulgaris. This plant is our native yellow rocket. A short-lived perennial growing about 30cm tall, it has a hot watercress-like flavour. It might die down in colder winters and usually self-sows when happy. B. verna, American land cress, is related to this plant and can also be grown for winter salads though it is not reliably perennial and is normally sown in late summer or early autumn in order to provide winter leaves.


Beta vulgaris cicla is the cultivated spinach beet. Although it is a biennial, this plant usually self-sows freely and provides fresh leaves all year round with very little effort from the grower. The much more ornamental cultivar 'Ruby Chard' can also be used but it does not self-sow as freely, nor is it so hardy, often dying down in cold winters. Not my favourite salad leaf, but some people like its raw beetroot-like flavour.



Horticultural.