Baby Red Russian Kale, Rainbow Chard and Beetroot Leaves |
im in love with hardy greens, i love their long growing season and i love their multiple uses, young and old. in this recipe im using three types that i grow every year: kale, rainbow chard, and beetroot. its a bit hard to find all these greens in the shops together, so growing them may be the best answer. i like to use the tender young leaves in salads, rainbow chard adds a great splash of colour too the salad bowl. older leaves of all these plants tend to need cooking, which opens them up to a whole range of culinary uses. you can even treat big leaves as two seperate veg, i cook the stalks seperate to the leafy ends, which cook more quickly.
my first time growing rainbow chard was alongside beetroot. in my first adult veg patch. i had two raised beds about 4 by 6 feet in length, right off a busy road on capitol hill, seattle. chard was a wonderful thing to grow, it kept growing slowly through the winter months, and provided a much needed green energy boost when the pocket strings were stretched. rainbow chard is one of the ultimate economy crops, it gives and gives. when all things are green in the garden its the entire spectrum, whats not to love?