Garden Oatmeal: an Overabundance of Kale and Chard

GardenZeus expert Darren Butler has nicknamed productive, healthy garden greens, such as chard and kale, as “Garden Oatmeal” because while hearty and nutritious, after months and years of eating such plants regularly, they can come to seem plain and unappealing, or even be avoided entirely for weeks at a time, unless prepared as part of a more flavorful dish, veggie juice, or complex meal.

Chard and kale are among the few vegetables that can be so incredibly productive as to challenge the digestive capacity of most individual humans. For these vegetables, Darren recommends wise and thoughtful restraint in the number of seeds planted. Even with a small number of plants, it can be easy to reach chard or kale exhaustion; Darren has particularly noticed loved ones reaching the point that they simply turn away and refuse to answer after he suggests preparing yet another salad or dish with chard. While Darren is chard-obsessed and able to eat chard almost every day of the year, as well as reasonably courageous in the garden in general, he also at times reaches the point that he simply cannot face another plate containing chard. Consider yourself forewarned!