Sunday 11 March 2012

Summer salads in March

Just recently I have been preparing my raised beds for sowing new crops, the first stage of which was to use up or dispose of the last few plants from last year. Actually, with the aid of those "Longrow" cloches I bought, I have manged to keep the salads coming right through the Winter. Under one of them I had a mixture of endives and chicories. Along with the two types of lettuce I have, these make a great basis for the type of mixed salad of which we are so fond.




There were still more of the red chicories than we could use immediately, so I relocated some. These ones were dug up with lots of soil attached and transferred to the big tub in which I will later be growing a Summer Squash.  By the time the weather is suitable for planting squash, the chicories will be long gone.




I also had to reclocate some of my Perpetual Spinach. A couple of plants have "popped over to spend some time with the neighbours", so to speak:


"Perpetual" is really the wrong name for this vegetable. It is actually a bi-ennial - in other words it runs to seed the year after it is sown. (Actually, if left to its own devices it would self-seed and a new generation would grow up, so I suppose in that respect perpetual is a reasonable term to use.) Anyway.... I plan to get another couple of helpings from these plants before removing them when I need the bed for my Three Sisters attempt, of which more later.

Finally for today, a mention of a ridiculously easy way to have something in the way of salad available all year round - cress. This is something of which I grow a small batch every now and then. Time from sowing to harvest is little more than a week. All you need is a packet of seeds, a suitable container and a tiny amount of compost (or even some moist kitchen paper).


Mine is grown on a windowsill, where it gets plenty of light. With a daily watering you'll soon get something like this:-



Here is a batch of cress with (in the foreground) a tray of Alfalfa (aka Lucerne). The Alfalfa is normally grown for its immature sprouts, but if you leave it to grow a bit longer, it performs just like cress. It has a lovely tangy flavour.


You don't get much quantity or weight of produce out of a tray of cress, but it is a practically fool-proof way of adding some interest to a salad or a sandwich. A good one for the kids too - you get to eat something you have grown yourself without having to wait months for a harvest!

16 comments:

  1. Very interesting again Mark. I have never grown any type of cress, nor have I ever had it in salad that I know of. Looks very easy though.

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  2. I am feeling inspired. I have never tasted cress in my life. I actually had asparagus and parsnips last year for the first time. You'd think at 55 I should have tasted everything.

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  3. Your close ups are really good Mark. Thanks for the reminder about spouts also, and I also have never started cress, but I have eaten it and love it.

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  4. I always wanted to grow cress microgreens. I have it in my sprouting mixes, but never had one grown by itself. How does it tastes: does it has a dinstinct cress flavor or it is milder? (I hope we are talking about the same plant).

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  5. Your salads look perfect, not a nibble on them. The cress looks so fresh. I really need to get sowing. I'm really behind this year.

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  6. Marina; the taste of cress is sharp, slightly peppery, but not pungent like mustard. Goes really well in a sandwich with chopped boiled egg...

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  7. All looks great Mark! Inspirational!

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  8. First time visitor and latest follower. I am really enjoying your blog, this is what we a starting to achieve in our little Urban area. I know your posts will help inspire us! Thank you and please stop by my little blog as well!

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    1. And so much better in every way than bagged supermarket salad, which has been washed in goodness knows what.
      Hmmm, interesting to see that your alfalfa germinated. Perhaps that's where I went wrong - expecting it to grow outside!

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  9. I really like cress - I was the first thing I ever grew as a kid - that and mustard. We used to plant it on cotton wool and then watch it grow. I'm not sure I enjoyed eating it much then but I do now.

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  10. I remember as a child growing cress in an empty eggshell which had a face drawn on it. The cress grew and gave the eggshell some hair. I love cress in a sandwich with egg mayonaise.

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  11. What bright greens!... I continue to noodle over the long cloches.... it may be a construction project

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  12. Oh those childhood memories of squishy egg and cress sandwiches-yum, yum, yum.

    I’m growing land cress this year but hadn’t thought about growing ordinary cress-thanks for the reminder Mark!

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  13. The cress is beautiful. Reminds me of the fenugreek(methi) i grow, which is also as easy to grow.

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  14. hi Mark, was wondering if it would be ok to use ur cress image as part of a project for a educational competition entry? (YNC- Graze) thanx sam.

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  15. Hi Sam2000; Could you please email me the details of this educational competition?(email address is in my profile)

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