Don’t get me wrong… I enjoy northern states’ fiery maples, sweet birches and dogwoods in the fall but my favorite colors in the fall are greens

I love the life-affirming green colors, and the myriad shapes and textures that our cool season leafy vegetable crops show us as the rest of the plant world is going dormant.

If you’re not a fan of greens (yet!) you may want to reconsider

Many of them, such as kale or mustard are beautiful plants that you can add to your ornamental beds for pops of color and texture. Lettuces can make an edible border. Radicchio is an underappreciated crop that shows stunning reds and greens around other larger crops or shrubs. Besides their looks, greens offer us great sources of vitamins A, C, E and K, as well as calcium, potassium, iron, folate and fiber. If you’re looking for a way to improve your health, adding a daily serving of leafy greens is a great place to start.

You may already be familiar with collards, mustard, and turnip greens, and they are wonderful

But there are many more greens to try that may not be as well known here in northeast Florida, and are equally tasty and nutritious. Two examples are Tat Soi and Stem Lettuce, or Celtuce. Both have been grown in China for centuries and are beautiful greens to try.

Regardless of which greens you prefer, they all grow well in our fall and winter gardens

Many can be started from seed indoors in September, and then planted out into the garden in October after the weather cools. They tend to be relatively pest and disease free, need only healthy soil, a little supplemental watering and fertilizing.

Some can be harvested a few leaves at a time, so they continue producing throughout the cool season. And when the browns of winter are bringing you down, those beautiful greens can perk you right back up. If you’d like to learn more about growing greens in your home garden, read more from UF/IFAS at Gardening Solutions: Greens.

Article written by Beth Marlowe, Urban Garden Program Assistant, October 2023

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