I love lettuce of course, but I'm looking for inspiration.. I grew Malabar Spinach earlier this year and didn't like it..

This summer I will try:
- Tokyo Bekana
- Amarath Tricolor/Chinese Spinach
- Egyptian Spinach

Any favorite of yours?

I tried Malabar spinach one time, but it got invasive quickly, and I didn't like it enough to keep growing it. Komatsuna is a very good heat resistant green - Green Boy being the best summer variety. Senposai is even more heat resistant, being a hybrid of cabbage and komatsuna, and misome, another hybrid of tatsoi and komatsuna. Those two survive well into August in my area, in the 90s many times. I have one of each that are just starting to bolt! And they are all cut and come again, like leaf lettuce.

Those are also my pick.

I would add Gai Choy mustard. I notice with mustard it grows so much better in hot Florida heat than in the North, though they still start to bolt by April. It likes a consistent temperature down there despite the heat, and more likely to bolt due to temperature fluctuation.

Looking at my old photos I was still growing collard and dino kale during May in South Florida, it was soil I mulched with woodchips and used bt spray to prevent moth caterpillars.

Malabar spinach isn't something I ever eat raw because of the strange taste, always stir fry it. You can add sweet potato and water spinach leaves to the list if stir fry is your thing.

I have very good success with fordhook giant swisschard where I am now, I wonder how well they can do in zone 10.

Below is Tokyo Bekena grown at a friend house during May 2018 in South Florida, with part shade. One of the best garden photo I took, I have never been able to replicate this in the North, they always bolted too quick.

Fred Hempel sells a "highland kale" that is actually a mustard green. It is from Africa, local land race. It is heat tolerance and very hardy, also good at re seeding itself if you let it flower. It's very tasty as well.

Seems to be called amara, looks interesting, I will have to try growing it this fall.

Next to my okra, I’ve had a little area with runway arugula going since at least January. I haven’t been eating any of it really. I did harvest some seeds from this patch during July. The leaves are spicy. As long as I give the arugula enough water and some fertilizer, it has been staying alive. This has been more of a self-seeding patch as the arugula bolts in short order. There’s one big plant out there now that is still living and flowering.

Various red mustard has also popped up or volunteered in the shadow of the okra. I had let some mustard go to seed in the spring. I haven’t been eating any other than a little taste to see how spicy it is. There’s also a swiss chard plant growing in the shadow of a 2 meter tall and wide black beauty eggplant. The chard gets water when the eggplant does. Not been eating any chard either.

My tuscan kale was going and growing pretty good in the early summer heat of June, but then some caterpillars found it. I has stopped harvesting leaves back in April, but liked the blue “palm tree” look of the plants so I had let them be. Instead of doing any treatment for the caterpillars, I ended up removing the kale.

I never ate much of the mustard greens, they were more of an ornamental filler for the garden. I also believe they help the health of the soil and discourage fungal diseases and nematodes infestations. I like eating arugula, but only when it is milder like in the cool season when the arugula isn’t so prone to bolting.

I’m sort of conditioned or accustomed to grow and eat greens in the cool season and haven’t put much effort into cultivating any hot weather greens.

karstopography wrote: ↑Mon Aug 21, 2023 6:39 am I’m sort of conditioned or accustomed to grow and eat greens in the cool season and haven’t put much effort into cultivating any hot weather greens.

Me too. For one thing, around here lettuce and similar are flea beetle magnets. IF I fool with them it's cool season and in window boxes on the sunny front porch. Kale and collards are grown down in the garden and I've found they are pretty heat tolerant although they tend to be a bit more tough in the heat but you can cook that out of them!

My “volunteer” summer greens as of this morning. These only get water when I water my eggplant or okra and get granular fertilizer when I feed the other vegetables.

I tasted the arugula and it tastes like arugula . Something with four legs, fur and warm blood has been nibbling on the swiss chard. All these volunteers are under the filtered light of other taller vegetables such as okra and eggplant. My okra and eggplant are both well over 6’ now. The arugula and mustard both get a good period of direct sun. Day high Temperatures have been mostly 35-38° C and nightly lows mostly 24-26° C.

Thank you all for your great suggestions!

Beautiful photo Max, here's a sad photo of my Tokyo Bekana with holes from slugs

Early Purple Vienna Kolrahbi greens are very delicious. The flowers are even better. I don't even harvest the bulbs; it's the greens and flowers that interest me. They're very tender and have excellent flavor. Cabbage worms don't bother them. I'd even describe them as sweet. They can grow back again next year if you don't harvest the bulbs.

Mary thistle greens are excellent, but give them shade and moist soil or they may get too hard, sharp, crinkly, and spiky.

I have some mustard green seeds that I'm wanting to grow, but I haven't done it yet. Maybe now is a good time to start, if it's not still too hot for it to sprout. Maybe it is. I'm not sure how they do in the heat.

Oh, one of my favorite greens is Shark Fin Melon greens. Shark Fin Melon is a squash (Cucurbita ficifolia). I like to use the leaves in cooking (rather than fresh).

Also, bunching onions (for the greens). Crimson Forest is a favorite.

Shule wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 1:54 am Purple Vienna Kolrahbi greens are very delicious. The flowers are even better. I don't even harvest the bulbs; it's the greens and flowers that interest me. They're very tender and have excellent flavor. Cabbage worms don't bother them. I'd even describe them as sweet. They can grow back again next year if you don't harvest the bulbs.

Mary thistle greens are excellent, but give them shade and moist soil or they may get too hard, sharp, crinkly, and spiky.

I have some mustard green seeds that I'm wanting to grow, but I haven't done it yet. Maybe now is a good time to start, if it's not still too hot for it to sprout. Maybe it is. I'm not sure how they do in the heat.

Mustard will sprout in soil temperatures up to about 85°, but under 80° is better. Mustard tolerates a little frost. Mustard is one of those greens that can be sowed heavily and the thinnings are good in salads. Even if it’s only 60 days to your first hard frost, there ought to be time to get something of a crop of greens in.

Sweet potato leaves are edible and heat tolerant. Good in cooking.

I grow a variety of mustard greens over summer. Also wild rocket is a permanent fixture of my garden (as in I probably can’t get rid of now even if I tried). It took a while to get used to the spiciness but now I prefer it to the mild stuff from the shops.

I’ve been meaning to try Malabar spinach but it seems to have very mixed reviews.