Monday 8 May 2017

Salads and herbs

Late Spring and Early Summer are the best times for salads and herbs, when everything is fresh and new, rather than later on in the year when plants have potentially had to cope with fierce sunshine, high temperatures and drought (not likely in the UK, I know!)


My first "saladings" of the year were radishes and Baby Leaf lettuces:


"Cherry Belle" (round) and "French Breakfast" (long)

Baby Leaf lettuce being grown in a seed-tray, under cover

Now, I'm just about to pick the first few springs of Watercress form that miniature bed I started a couple of weeks ago.



I also have a few peas in a pot, which I intend to use as pea-shoots. I sowed 24 seeds in that pot, but some of them have gone AWOL. I suspect mice may have pinched them. Or perhaps they just didn't germinate...




There are few occasions when there are NO herbs available for use in my garden, but this is one of the best times for them. Recently I made a lovely Tabbouleh with bulgur wheat and loads of fresh Mint, Parsley and Onion leaves.


Various potted Mints


I am particularly pleased to see that the Thyme plants which I thought had died last Autumn have recovered nicely. Here you can see them in the foreground, with Chives, Parsley and Celery Leaf in the background.




It will be a while before my salads include any cucumbers though - they are only just germinating!


Cucumber "Passandra"

7 comments:

  1. Mint is beautiful when it's putting on all it's Spring growth isn't it? We have some in a pot in the garden but we've got a 'feral' mint colony on the borders of our allotment plot as well. Delicious and pretty.

    Glad to see your cucumbers are doing something - ours are still sulking in their pots (I'm resisting the urge to scrape back the soil and see if there's anything happening!)

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  2. Makings for lovely salads!
    Have a great week!

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  3. So nice to see all the green! We're still getting frosts!

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  4. I cut lots of chives today to freeze. Once they flower I can crop fresh leaves again. We've just sown lots of herb seeds today.

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  5. Chives are always the first to get going in the spring - they've been producing for a while now while most of my other perennial herbs are just waking up.

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  6. I like the sound of your tabbouleh, Mark. Are onion leaves like chives or spring onions? I've grown the shrubby thyme in the past and found that it tends to dry out. Now I have a fleshier leaved spreading thyme which I can pick from throughout the winter. I use it a lot in winter cooking.

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    Replies
    1. The onion leaves are quite robust, so more like Spring Onions than Chives. The ones I used were from some sets I planted in pots because I didn't have room for them in my raised beds.

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