Chard, Orach, Mustard 



351 



OTHER GREENS 



Many kinds of plants aside from spinach are used 

 as greens or pot-herbs. Some of the common weeds 

 are much prized for this purpose in the rural districts, 

 particularly the common white pigweed or lamb's 

 quarter, pusley or purslane, dandelion and dock. The 

 following are garden plants. 



Ohard, or leaf-beet, is one of the best of pot-herb 

 plants. It ordinarily requires nearly a full season in 

 which to mature, although it will give a supply of edible 

 foliage from early summer until fall. The chard has 

 very broad and thick leaf-blades and midribs, which 

 are usually white or tinted rather than green. Some- 

 times these are blanched by tying up the bunch of 

 foliage. Seeds are sown early in the spring as ordinary 

 beet seeds are, and the plants are thinned as used until 

 finally they stand 6-12 inches apart in the row. Small 

 plants of the common beet, as explained on page 279, 

 are often used for greens. 



Orach is allied to the amaranths, or pigweeds. It is 

 grown for the large succulent root-leaves. It is essen- 

 tially a cool -season plant, the seed being sown early in 

 the spring and the foliage used before midsummer. By 

 midsummer, or later, the plant sends up a strong flower- 

 stalk four or five feet high, and thereafter it is of no use 

 as a pot-herb plant. 



Mustard is much used for greens in home gardens, 

 and it is also grown to a large extent in parts of the 

 South, where the climate is too hot for many other pot- 

 herb crops. Some of the improved varieties of curled- 



