One strategy of getting more for less garden space is to experiment with using more parts of your vegetable plants. Did you know that sweet potato leaves are edible – or young cucumber leaves? Let’s try it this next year. Here’s an article talking about this–

This article appeared in the April 2002 issue of Vegetable Production & Marketing News,
edited by Frank J. Dainello, Ph.D., and produced by Extension Horticulture,
Texas Cooperative Extension, The Texas A&M University System, College Station, Texas.

Secondary Edible Parts of Vegetables
This article by M. J. Stephens, University of Florida,
Department of Horticulture, appeared in
“Vegetarian,” 98-05.

The culinary reputation of most vegetables is based primarily on the edible qualities of one or sometimes two primary parts of the plant. For example, the tomato is the leading garden vegetable, due to the popular appeal of its fruit, while the turnip contributes both its root and its leaves as table fare. For home gardeners who grow and have the entire vegetable plant at their disposal, other plant parts may be edible, although perhaps not so tasty as the main product. For non-gardeners, however, there is little option for eating parts other than those offered for sale.
The following is a list of ordinary garden vegetables with both commonly-eaten parts and less-frequently eaten parts. Obviously, in a list such as this, there may be quite a few omissions.

Although many of the secondary plant parts are edible, their popularity as food items is diminished by lack of proper flavor or unfavorable texture. For example, the leaves of practically all the cabbage family are edible, but the strong flavors of some species are disagreeable or too strong for most people’s taste.

The edible leaves and stem tips of sweet potato vines are well known in many parts of the world. Sweet potato foliage has a rich protein content that helps supplement the nutritional value of the roots.

As for all vegetable parts, there is a great deal of variation within varieties in flavor and culinary characteristics of these secondary parts. For example, some sweet-potato stem tips in certain varieties are bitter, with a resinous flavor that is too strong.

Quite often, cooking is necessary to make the parts edible.

Vegetable Common Edible Parts and Other Edible Parts
Beans, snap pod with seeds and leaves
Beans, lima seeds pods, leaves
Beets root leaves
Broccoli flower leaves, flower stem
Carrot root leaves
Cauliflower immature flower flower stem, leaves
Celery leaf stems leaves, seeds
Corn, sweet seeds, young ears, unfurled tassel, young leaves
Cucumber fruit with seeds and stem tips and young leaves
Eggplant fruit with seeds and leaves edible but not flavorful
Kohlrabi swollen stem and leaves
Okra pods with seeds and leaves
Onions root and young leaves
Parsley tops and roots
Peas seeds, pods, leaves, tendrils
Pepper pods leaves after cooking, immature seeds
Potatoes, Sweet roots leaves and stem shoots
Radish roots leaves and seed pods while green
Squash fruit with seeds seeds, flowers, young leaves
Turnip roots, leaves
Watermelon fruit — interior pulp and seeds and rind of fruit
Why grow greens in the summer when you can eat your greens off your other plants?

Debra Denker produced this 10 minute film about the Eldorado School Community Garden. It shows in beautiful ways how the garden started and grew into the vibrant community that it is today. Enjoy!