Sow a Salad Garden Now!

The Christmas-New Year period can be all consuming, add in a summer holiday, and our gardening aspirations fly out the window. By starting now, however, there’s still plenty of time to create a fresh salad garden that will produce a harvest within 8 weeks or earlier (assuming the weather stays summery). The key to making it happen is to choose fast-growing, resilient plants, like the ones below:

Bulk

Rocket

Rocket is a brassica (i.e. it’s in the same family as cabbage and cauliflower). However, unlike its heavy-weight cousins, rocket is a fast-growing, leafy salad green that adds a mildly peppery tang to salads while also being a delicious topping for pizza. To get your rocket to maturity as quickly as possible, sow it from seed in loose, friable soil which receives dappled light (not full sun) during summer. Start picking leaves as soon as they are 7-10cm long. Picking frequently prevents a central stem developing, something you want to avoid as once this starts to grow, foliage becomes tougher and hotter. It’s worth bearing in mind that if you can’t keep up with your rocket harvest, and the plants do run to seed, the pretty flowers that form can be picked and popped into salads or added to fritters.

Orach

Also known as ‘mountain spinach,’ orach is a pretty, purple-red foliage plant that grows almost while you watch it. Softer in the leaf than lettuce, it is still a crunchy bite. Sow it thickly in loose, friable soil, in a sunny situation, and pick the leaves starting from when they are the size of a 20c coin. Harvest whole plants before they reach a height of 15cm, but be sure to leave a few in place to set seed for next year. Orach leaves are at their best when picked, washed, and popped into the fridge to chill for an hour before adding to salad.

Loose leaf lettuce

When choosing fast-growing lettuce, the more open the variety, the more rapid the growth. What’s more, open (rather than hearting) lettuce can be picked at any stage the leaves are of edible size. Check out lettuce options at Kings Seeds, and note the maturity time of each variety. Alternatively, purchase seedlings of loose leaf lettuce, and get a head start.

Flavour

Dill

Much lighter in flavour than fennel, dill is a rapid-growing, feathery herb. Give it light, fertile soil, plenty of sun, and water it well to encourage the development of feathery leaves. Pick off foliage when it is 10cm high, avoiding the central growing tip.

Chervil

Chervil is a delicately flavoured herb with a parsley/tarragon flavour. It grows quickly and is ideal for sowing from seed in late summer. Provide it with a friable soil (it doesn’t need to be nutrient-packed) and little shade, and add just a few snips to salad for a truly unique flavour boost.

Crunch

Radish

Unless you’re a hot head, add crunch to your summer salad with mild radish varieties such as ‘French Breakfast’ and ‘White Icicle.’ Radish are fast growing but in summer, the secret to keeping them crunchy and mild is to grow them in fertile, free draining soil in dappled light. While you don’t want to saturate the ground, avoid the soil drying out (mulch can help prevent this). Thinning the radishes to a finger’s spacing will also promote mild, rapid growth.

Pea sprouts

‘Tasty Tendrils’ pea seed, sown into a dappled light patch in the garden, or in a shallow tray on the balcony, will produce crunchy edible tendrils in just 2 weeks. Snip off the foliage no more than a third of the way down the stem, and it’s very likely you’ll get another meal from the same plant down the track.

A salad garden is totally achievable when started now. Sow and plant as soon as possible to reap the benefits of healthy, home grown, low-cost greens!