First Salad 2010

Tue May 04, 2010 12:57 am

This is my first salad out the garden this year.

It's a mix of:

Swiss chard, bright lights
Beet tops, early wonder tall top
Arugula
Leaf lettuce, red sails
Pea Shoots

Tue May 04, 2010 1:11 am

Yummy! I love pea shoots, I think they are absolutely delicious.

Tue May 04, 2010 1:24 am

Looks lovely really. I just wish My lettuce would finally do something.

Tue May 04, 2010 2:30 am

and it was tasty too. :lol:

Tue May 04, 2010 9:53 am

Mmmm! Love those fresh spring salads! I have to go buy more EVOO. I've run out.

Tue May 04, 2010 1:57 pm

you can eat pea shoots?! we have a huge abundance of salad greens right now. eating salad almost every day. enjoy that bowl looks tasty.

Tue May 04, 2010 3:15 pm

soil,

Yes

Like stated above, pea shoots are delicioso.

http://www.freshlink.org/PeaShootFile.html

Tue May 04, 2010 8:22 pm

Anxiously awaiting my lettuce, tomatoes, squash and cukes. I'm munching on some cherry belle radishes right now though.

My lettuce caught some kind of second wind or something; it rained all yesterday morning and almost all of it literally doubled in size between then and today.

Tue May 04, 2010 10:39 pm

Nick D,

Welcome to Helpfull Gardener.

Give it all some time. :wink:

I literally hate the saying literally.

Wed May 05, 2010 1:55 am

Some two months ago I planted an entire 4 x 4 square raised bed with an assortment of old lettuce seed. OMG, it's about six inches high now and we've been eating it for a couple of weeks. It's too early for slugs to be a problem here in Vermont so the harvest is easy and delicious. However, you can only eat so much it.

Wed May 05, 2010 1:08 pm

soil wrote:you can eat pea shoots?! we have a huge abundance of salad greens right now. eating salad almost every day. enjoy that bowl looks tasty.

Hey soil, pea sprouts are super yummy too. Faster to harvest and a slightly nuttier flavor.

Wed May 05, 2010 4:27 pm

thanks for the info you two. will be eating the pea shoots from now on thats for sure. as if i don't have enough greens already though haha. just one more green to add to the salad.

Fri May 07, 2010 12:56 am

I've been eating garden salads for a little while now. I love it. Tonight's salad had from my garden:

2 kinds lettuce
spinach
swiss chard
broccoli (heads, a little bit flowers where it had started to open up a bit, and leaves)
anise hyssop
lemon balm
parsley
dill
borage flowers
sage flowers

plus a little bit store bought stuff for crunch. It was wonderful, all those flavors! The borage flowers have a really interesting, complex, hard to describe flavor that I have decided I really like. The sage flowers are just intensely sage-y.

Fri May 07, 2010 1:01 am

Woo hoo! Nice going. I am a ways off yet for green salad, but did get one batch of asparagus.

Fri May 07, 2010 1:30 am

I'll trade you salad mix for aspargus anytime Jal

I think borage has a taste of cucumber. Very nice mix.

Fri May 07, 2010 3:31 am

rainbowgardener wrote:I've been eating garden salads for a little while now. I love it. Tonight's salad had from my garden:

2 kinds lettuce
spinach
swiss chard
broccoli (heads, a little bit flowers where it had started to open up a bit, and leaves)
anise hyssop
lemon balm
parsley
dill
borage flowers
sage flowers

plus a little bit store bought stuff for crunch. It was wonderful, all those flavors! The borage flowers have a really interesting, complex, hard to describe flavor that I have decided I really like. The sage flowers are just intensely sage-y.

I've never had borage, but I've been reading a lot about it recently. I'm thinking I may need to pick up some seeds to plant some. I'm running out of ground, folks :-)

Fri May 07, 2010 11:27 am

This is my first year of growing borage. I grew it because theoretically bees love it. People tell me to be careful with it, that it "freely" self seeds. Last night was my first time of tasting it because it just flowered. The leaves are supposedly edible too, but they are hairy/prickly and don't inspire me to eat them! I've heard that you can juice them, but haven't tried it.

I hear you about running out of ground!

Fri May 07, 2010 11:56 am

I grew lettuce last year and it was good for a while, but then it bolted and got quite bitter. The leaf lettuce less-so than the head lettuce. I'll be devoting more room to tomatoes and peppers this year and probably less to the greens, though I am giving Swiss chard a try

.

Fri May 07, 2010 1:14 pm

garden5 wrote:I grew lettuce last year and it was good for a while, but then it bolted and got quite bitter. The leaf lettuce less-so than the head lettuce. I'll be devoting more room to tomatoes and peppers this year and probably less to the greens, though I am giving Swiss chard a try .

Hey Garden, I hear you on the bolting lettuce. One thing I'm doing this year is growing lettuce in a flat on my kitchen window sill. I'm eating delicious baby greens every night. I highly recommend it.

Fri May 07, 2010 4:15 pm

You can even buy special gourmet blends for flat growing.

Fri May 07, 2010 4:40 pm

garden5 wrote:I grew lettuce last year and it was good for a while, but then it bolted and got quite bitter. The leaf lettuce less-so than the head lettuce. I'll be devoting more room to tomatoes and peppers this year and probably less to the greens, though I am giving Swiss chard a try .

That is in the nature of lettuce, to bolt once the weather gets hot. The earlier you get it started, the longer you have lettuce. I plant lettuce seed directly in the ground early in March ("as soon as the soil can be worked").
Then you can start it again late in the season for a fall crop.

But yes, I love the chard, which doesn't mind the heat and just keeps going all season!