grow: take it easy, there's salad from the patio

Salad from the patio. Tom thumb lettuce, baby chard and kale, misc. red lettuces, and pansies!

This weekend I woke up to Bryce already preparing poached eggs with sriracha mayo on english muffins for breakfast. I decided that we should also have salad, so I headed out onto the patio. Everything photographed above was gathered from miscellaneous container garden plants. I find that exciting!

This is the first year I've made a concious effort to commit to edible gardening. In the past, it was a matter of setting up everything all at once on a sunny weekend in May then harvesting whatever comes up and putting it all to rest in fall. This year, I've planted everything from seed and make a habit of sowing something every week to ensure a continual harvest. Logically I understand how and why it's working, but it just blows my mind that it's working!

I have a tendency to over-plan and scrutinise the details. Bryce has encouraged me to just let go, garden on a whim, and treat it as play time. I'm glad he did because it is far more enjoyable this way. I no longer refer to a spreadsheet with a schedule (which I used to and I still think is an awesome tool). Instead, I now bring 2-3 seed packets when I head out to the patio or the community garden. When I get there, I try to find an empty spot. If I find one, I scatter seeds. Sometimes they come up, sometimes they don't. Either way, it's ok.

harvest: butterhead lettuce 'speckles'

'Speckles' Lettuce

Speckles is an heirloom bibb lettuce that originated from Germany and Holland. It was brought over 200 years ago to North America. It's a great tasting lettuce perfect for salads and sandwiches.

I grow it on a raised bed in the community garden and in containers in my patio. Matures in about 55 days and does well in cool, damp weather. Sow in batches of 3 every other week from mid-March to June and again from mid-August and through September to stagger harvests.

It transplants well, but make sure to transplant on an overcast or cloudy day! (I transplanted a batch on a sunny day and it withered by the next day. Oops!) Transplant 10cm (4") apart. Once the leaves touch, thin by harvesting every other plant and let remainders grow until you want to eat them!