10 Late Season Salad Plants

There are many productive and ornamental plants that will crop through fall and into winter.And they're all great for your salads.

Chard or perpetual spinach

Also known as leaf beet, chard is a leafy green vegetable that is usually grown as a spinach substitute. There are many varieties of chard available, many with colored leaf midribs that make them very ornamental. A very hardy plant, chard sown in late summer will survive most winters and continue producing leaves. Young leaves make an excellent addition to the salad bowl.

Beetroot

Quick-maturing varieties of beetroot sown in summer will provide a crop of roots in autumn, but also consider growing some just for their leaves. Beetroot is related to chard; the leaves are highly ornamental with their red veining and make a very decorative salad.

Loose-leaf lettuces

Loose-leaf lettuces are quick to produce a crop and many are highly ornamental, with red or frilly leaves. Lettuce seed can fail to germinate in hot weather, but try sowing seeds in late afternoon and watering them with cold water. The seeds should then start to germinate in the cooler temperatures overnight.

Parsley

Generally grown as an herb, parsley is full of vitamins and minerals and adds a burst of flavor to salads. Although seeds can be slow to germinate, plants sown in summer will produce leaves right through until next spring. If you have very cold winters, sow some parsley in a pot to bring indoors for a continuous supply.

Spinach

Quick to bolt (flower) in hot weather, spinach is much easier to grow in the milder temperatures of fall. Young leaves are excellent in salads and mature leaves are used in many recipes.

Rocket

Salad rocket is a quick-growing plant with serrated leaves and a peppery flavor. If you like things spicy, try growing its wilder relative. Wild rocket has narrower leaves but is hardier and packs more of a punch.

Mizuna

Many oriental vegetables are also easy to grow as late-season crops and make tasty salads. Mizuna produces a bushy clump of attractive, feathery leaves. It grows back rapidly after being cut and can be used both as a salad and a stir-fry vegetable.

Mibuna

Mibuna is a feistier relative of mizuna, with thinner leaves and a stronger (but not overwhelming) flavor.

Komatsuna

Mustard spinach, komatsuna, is a hardy plant that is very easy to grow. Young leaves are good in salads, whilst older leaves are excellent cooked. Even the flower shoots are edible, although they can develop a lot of mustard "heat".

Tatsoi

Tatsoi grows as a low-lying rosette of small, dark leaves. A hardy plant, it crops well into winter but is slow-growing. The leaves are great in salads and stir-fries, and the plant itself is very ornamental.