Heat-Proof Leafy Greens That Grow Like Crazy in 100+°F Summer Heat

Alright, this is John Kohler with growingyourgreens.com, today we have another exciting episode for you. In this episode, coming at you from my Las Vegas backyard garden in about the middle of August. I'm going to share with you guys the top six, right, most abundant leafy greens you can grow in 115 degree heat, that's what we hit here on the hottest day of the year this year, 115.5 on August 1st. That being said, we also had here in Las Vegas, since May, over 69 days of over 100 degrees and we're going to go ahead and pop up this temperature graph right on the screen for you guys so you guys can see in plain numbers, all the days that were over 100 degrees, that's basically anything in the red and you can see the date on the bottom and the temperature on the side. So, you know, even in May, we were hitting 100 around the middle of the month and then in June, pretty much, you know, we hit over 100 for most of the days and then July, most of the days have been over 100 and in August, pretty much every day has been over 100 as well. And in August and even in late July, we had over 18 days of over 110 degrees, so literally in the last week, we came through that heat spell and it was over 110 degrees every single day but you guys can see my garden is completely green, it's not burnt up, you know, everything is growing great and while I grow many different crops here successfully, links down below to my videos in the past of some of the videos that I've made with the best heat tolerant vegetables and leafy greens, you know, this episode, I really just want to focus on the ones that kick butt the most, that grow the fastest and that are the easiest, alright. So, without further ado, let's get into it. Alright guys, so the first leafy green you guys must grow as the climate changes, things get warmer, if you want to be successful and have leafy greens to eat all summer long without any issues are the sweet potatoes. As you guys can see, this is actually the side of my house, one whole side, I'm going to make a dedicated episode dedicated to this plant right here. This is basically sweet potatoes, I put me at Baptist, I basically planted whole sweet potatoes that started shooting out in my kitchen because I didn't get to eat them. I have 18-15 gallon pots that are raised up, so it's the height of a raised bed and I basically planted like 2 or 3 in each one and as you guys can see, it literally covers the entire wall of my house, more leafy greens than I could eat, you know. So, these leafy greens grow as a vine, they didn't want to just vine up the nylon string trellis naturally, I do recommend the white nylon string trellis, not the green ones that you can buy on Amazon, the green ones will basically disintegrate in the hot weather with the UV, but these guys just vine out and I basically clipped them up to the top and then now they're just basically falling back down. Every one of these leafy greens is edible, either raw or cooked, you can just pick and literally make a salad out of these guys, I'll go ahead and taste this little one for you guys on the camera. I mean, it does have like a spinach-like quality to it, like just the standard spinach you'd buy in the store, so it's not like a neutral flavor, a little bit stronger, but if you cook it down, you're not even going to taste it and you know, I don't know if I'd make a salad out of this, but if you have other greens and this mixed into the salad, it'd be totally nutritious. The greens of course are very high in nutrition and as you guys can see, this could fill a space very quickly, very well, it literally covers the whole wall of my house, so it'd keep the sun off my house, also keeps my house a lot cooler, so I could pay less air conditioning, so this is a great crop to grow in even a limited space, I mean most people let it crawl out on the ground, but I'm growing it vertically up a nylon string trellis I've attached to my house and you can see, it just looks amazing. Alright, so the next most abundant crop I want you guys to grow, and this is a new one to me, I started growing it maybe like a year or two ago actually, and it really amazed me on how well it actually did. The sweet potatoes are an annual crop here in my zone nine in Las Vegas, whereas this crop basically stays in the ground year round, in the winter I cut it back to the roots, so I just leave the roots to the ground, leave a little stalk sticking up, and then it basically just comes back of course, I also let it go to seed, so some of these plants are like literally seedlings from last year that have been growing, and this really surprised me, you guys can see this is a plant right here, but basically just comes up, I try to stake them up, otherwise they want to crawl over and even take up my walkway, but it's all this, all this, and I can't barely grow anything else in this raised bed now, because I have all this wild arugula growing. Now this is not like your standard arugula you would buy in the store, these leaves are more narrow and thin, they look like this, when you eat them, they're not nice, hot, and spicy, just like the arugula you know of and you love, it's actually anti-cancer, good for phase two liver detoxification, how I usually harvest this is actually I take the tips, so instead of just sitting and harvesting the larger leaves, which can look like this, I basically just come and pop off the new growth tips like this and just put this into the raw soups and raw salads, you could also cook these up, although I encourage you guys to eat the arugula raw, the wild arugula raw, it's a lot better tasting in my opinion than the sweet potato leaves that we talked about earlier, and the tips are super tender, super delicious. Warning, this is lighting my mouth up on fire, it's like somebody's lighting matches on my tongue right now, but just laugh it off, feel the burn, and know this is one of the healthiest greens in the summer that you guys can grow easily and eat even despite hitting 115, 110, 100, it laughs and keeps growing, the problem is it kind of gets a bit rambunctious here in a backyard garden, but I love it. Alright guys, so the next leafy green, it actually has a ground cover, whereas you could see one was a vine, one just kind of takes over and sprawls out everywhere, and now this one is a ground cover, and as you guys can see, I planted a few plants in this raised bed, and this is planted as the understory crop, and as you guys can see, this is like completely like really nice, vibrant green, not burning up, not messing up or nothing right down here, but we got some tree collards and some sunchokes that are kind of getting destroyed by the heat, but down below here, all this greenery down below is just thriving. This is technically known as baby sun rose, which is the English name, the Latin name is Apinea cordifolia, and then this one is actually normally sold as an ornamental, it is a succulent plant, so you know, succulent plants love the dry heat, this is for a zone nine, this does grow year-round in my climate here, it does stay alive in the winter, it doesn't like the winter too much, it just kind of gets through the winter and then comes back every summer. You could eat these little flowers that are nice and decorative, you could pick them, put them on salads, you could also eat the little, the baby greens, it has a really nice, you know, salty flavor on that, let's go ahead and pick a nice, I mean these things look like they're like, whacked or shellacked or something, that's just like, the texture and color of them, but the leaves are really a nice flavor, like I'd rather eat these leaves over, once again, the sweet potato leaves that grow more rambunctious, but once again, use your microclimate accordingly, you know, plant this down below and have things grow up through it and above it, but yeah, amazing, flavorful plant, and really will grow well during even 110-115 degree heat, not even phase, and grows abundantly. Alright guys, fourth abundant leafy green that laughs at over 100 degree weather is what I have growing here, once again, along a trellis. So this is known as the water spinach, or Ipomoea aquatica, there are several different I'm growing two here in this line, I have the standard green variety, which is the land version, it's a bit darker green, and then this year I'm growing the white stem version that has more tender stems, it's known as the aquatic version, and then actually in the flood table, that I haven't planted out yet, I actually have a larger leaf version of the land version, the darker green kind, right, but as you can see, this water spinach is just laughing at the weather, this is, once again, the aquatic version, so the leaves are not as deep green, if you notice, there may be a few plants coming up, like this one here has deeper green leaves, I'm learning that actually, this is the first year I grew the aquatic version, and the nodes between the leaves, where the leaves come out, are a lot more tightly spaced, so I've noticed that you get a lot more leaf material, in the aquatic white stem version, than the standard green stem version that I normally grow, as I said, this is in the same kind of family as the sweet potato Ipomoea, but this is the Ipomoea aquatica versus the Ipomoea baptis, and I will tell you guys that when I harvest the leaves of this plant, the water spinach, and I eat it, it reminds me really of eating like lettuce, this is a lot more softer, tender leaves, and it has a very minimal kind of like, flavor to it, it's like, it really will take the flavor of the dressing you put on it, so you know, this would be a much better leafy green to eat, this I propagate from stem cuttings, I'll link down below to that video, it does start off a little bit growing slower, because I'm rooting stem cuttings versus planting whole sweet potatoes, that has like nice carbohydrate stores, so the sweet potatoes will grow way faster, but once these get caught up, they're going to grow just as fast as well, so yeah, the water spinach, it's probably my favorite leafy green for salads that I grow in the summer heat here in Vegas. Alright guys, my fourth most abundant leafy green to grow in the summertime are basically trees, so these ones are not cold tolerant, they won't take a freeze, maybe if it hits like 33, they'll be, they'll like defoliate, and then like the stem and the root will come back, or the main trunk, but any tender growth won't make it, this last winter we barely got down to freezing, and I kept all the top growth on this plant right here, this is known as the chaya tree, so if I had to say like one plant is by far the most abundant, with the least amount of work, because literally this just came back from growing from last year, where as the sweet potatoes, I actually had to plant the sweet potatoes at the roots, the water spinach, the actinia of course I planted many years ago, and it just keeps coming back, and the wild arugula I trim back every winter, and then new seeds will basically sprout up as well, because I let all the seeds drop, but this is by far the easiest, and look at this tree guys, this tree in my zone 9 is just taking off, it's just basically branching out, sending out so many leaves, makes a nice canopy, every single one of these leaves is edible, this is also known as tree spinach, it is a highly nutritious plant, grows very simply, so this is the standard leaf chaya, which just has the standard leaves, then I have a large leaf chaya, growing over on this side, you guys can see it's also really just taking off, there's a lot more leaf material on this, although it doesn't seem to be quite as rambunctious as the small leaf chaya, this one sends out a lot more offshoots, but then again this tree is about a year or two older than my large leaf, which is just kind of getting up there, but yeah, this one produces way more leaves, now the warning is, the chaya trees, the leaves need to be absolutely cooked properly, most places recommend boiling them out, they have cyanogenic glycosides in there that can kill you if you don't properly cook them, so the standard method is boiling them, and then throwing away the boiling water, and then how I do it is I basically just harvest them, I chop them up to basically make more surface area, I put them in the instant pot and then I pressure cook them for a minimum of 5 minutes with the water underneath, so basically they're getting super steamed and then I throw away the soaked water to eat them, and I'm of course research on how you may need to cook the chaya, some people are more concerned about that than others, one of the studies that I saw probably about a year or two ago was related to when the virus was going around, and people in Africa that actually eat a lot of crop that have the cyanide, cyanogenic glycosides like in the chaya, and they basically cook them and ate them, but even then some of those cyanogenic glycosides remain and then those levels can build up in your blood, our bodies can detox these, you don't want to get an overload of them, because that's when it can be problematic, but people with some of these, that ate more of these cyanogenic glycosides that were broken down, found that they actually were more resistant to getting viruses, right, during the pandemic, and probably they had a healthier immune system because of it, because in my opinion, and from what I've seen, you know a small amount of different plant phytonutrients can be beneficial, and if you exceed that amount, of course they can kill you, so you always want to get enough, so it's not like I'm eating chaya every single day since I have so many other leafy greens in my garden, but I do like to eat it at least on a weekly basis, as you guys can see I have a lot of leaves that I still have yet to harvest, and then last year I planted for the first time a variegated leaf chaya that is still kind of getting its footing, it's still growing, it's still going good, and those leaves are absolutely beautiful as well, but yeah, plant the chaya if you live in a zone 9b, or better, I mean I'm in like a zone 9, it's maybe going to change to a zone 9b one of these days, but other parts of the valley here in Las Vegas are 9b, I'm a little bit more higher up in elevation, but lower in the valley would be 9b, and this plant would do amazing, and I think more people should be growing the chaya because it is, and a beautiful tree, oh, and then I'll mention too, behind the chaya is a moringa, and the moringa, while it does put out a lot of leaves, the chaya just kicks its butt, man, the chaya just puts out more leaves more quickly, more leaves to eat, which will give you guys more nutrition in the end, compared to my experience with growing moringa literally, you know, a few feet away. Alright guys, so now we're down to the sixth and final most abundant leafy green that'll give you guys lots of food in over 100 degree weather, once again, over 100 degrees 69 days, over 110 degrees 18 days this year, and we hit 115.5 at the peak of the heat, and of course, the basil is my final plant I want to show you guys that you guys should all be growing in this changing climate that appears highly to be getting warmer every single year. Basil basically just laughs at the heat, and while many of you guys may try to grow the standard basil, which I have behind me right here, right here, right, the standard basil, while it will grow in the high heat, you know, it does get a little bit damaged, you know, some of the leaves might turn brown on the lower ones, they kind of turn a little bit, you know, yellowish, they just don't do quite as well, so I recommend growing other types of basil, I have Thai basil that does quite well, of course a related plant closely is Stevia that does amazing for a sugar substitute, but this one is a spicy blue basil that's just kicking butt, I mean, it was like a little twig when I planted it, and it's just bushed out so much, this is one of my favorite basils, like it just has an amazing flavor and scent, I love to eat it, even if it does go to flower, right, I've noticed it goes to flower, then it still just sends up more up shoots, and I usually end up harvesting like the young just pop off the young tender growth and then just eat it, and it has like, this has like to me like a bubble gum slash minty flavor, I mean, with some, yeah, and maybe like normal basil too, so yeah, over on this side is a spicy blue basil I got locally, and then over on this side we have an Ayurvedic holy toffee basil right over here, go ahead and taste that for a difference, wow, so that one's like way more stronger guys, I mean, there's so many varieties of basil, more than just a standard Italian green basil, and I encourage you guys to look into all the different varieties, this blue one is kind of like my new favorite now, of course I do like the holy basil, that's a lot stronger, so I really love the more mild flavor of this basil here, but yeah, all my basils are just kicking some royal they just love the heat, they love the temperature, and they laugh, so you know, my final thoughts in this episode guys, as the climate is changing, as things are getting more warm, you will need to adapt, you will need to get different kinds of seeds, grow different kinds of plants to ensure that you have a harvest during the changing climate, right, and I'm glad that I can do the work I do here in Las Vegas where we have some of the most extreme weather in the country, aside from maybe Phoenix, and the hottest days, so you guys can learn what exactly works, you know, there are so many other crops that I grow in the heat that would do just fine, but they're just not the most abundant, I mean over here you can see I have dinosaur kale there, and right below over here I have more dinosaur kale here, here, here, but if those plants are not watered properly, the leaves at the bottom will kind of like get some funky burn, like this, they'll like dry out in the hot temperatures, this didn't really happen until it got over 110, otherwise the dinosaur kale was doing pretty good, but that's only if you like underwater them, right, of course I also grow things like Egyptian spinach, Malabar spinach, and I'll put links down below to my videos I made in the past where I discussed more different heat tolerant leafy greens you guys can grow, this episode I really just wanted to focus on the ones that kick butt, that are very easy for you guys to be successful, because I want you guys to be successful, to grow your own food, especially with all these outbreaks going on in the food system, food imported from Mexico with all these contaminants, right, the only way you're going to know you're eating contaminant free is if you grow your own food, I know exactly what was sprayed on this, nothing except water, because I've been pretty lazy and not even doing any kind of organic sprays on it, I know exactly what's in the soil, and you know, probably the only issue I'm going to have is like the birds that come and eat stuff in my garden, and they poop, but I can see the poop and I wash it off very well before consuming anything, so yeah, I encourage you guys to grow a garden, it is very easy, even in the heat, you just got to grow the right plants, and have the right techniques, of course have the best soil, have a good irrigation system that comes on automatically, and water several times throughout the day, it's essential, and you guys can have an abundant garden in Las Vegas or other hot areas of the country as well, and throw in some of these plants in future years in your garden, so in case the weather gets too hot and your lettuce shrivels up, you still got greens to eat. I really hope you guys enjoyed this episode today, here in my backyard in Las Vegas, Nevada, we're probably over about 100 degrees today again as well, and if you guys enjoyed this short episode, hey, please be sure to give it a big thumbs up, more importantly share this with other people that live in hot climates or that are concerned about climate that is warming, and that they may not be able to grow anything in the climate, you just need to adapt and grow the proper crops, and you too can be successful like me. Also be sure to click that subscribe button right down below so you don't miss my new upcoming episodes, I come out every 5-7 days, you never know where I'll show up, what you'll be learning on my YouTube channel, and help me get to a million subscribers guys, I'm getting so close, so just click that subscribe, hit that bell to get notified as my new videos come out, finally be sure to check out the past episodes, our wealth of knowledge, over 800 episodes at this time on this channel dedicated to you guys about how to grow your own food at home, and once again, links down below for my favorite videos I made in the past previous summers about the most heat-tolerant vegetables and leafy greens you could grow as well. So with that, my name is John Kohler with growingyourgreens.com, we'll see you next time, and until then, remember, keep on growing.