Salad Ideas, Tips & Guides

I’ve got a little behind in my project to read one of the unread books on my shelf each month. Or, at least, I’ve got a little bit behind in publishing the results! My book for March was Just Vegetating: A Memoir, by Joy Larkcom. I eagerly awaited its publication in 2012, and started reading it as soon as it arrived. And then I stopped, part way through, because it didn’t live up to my expectations. I was expecting a memoir, telling the story of Larkcom’s life in plants. Just Vegetating does do that, but it does it through the medium of articles she has published through the years. It’s not a coherent narrative.

The news for the past few weeks has been a little worrying (when is it not?), in the sense that although Brexit is only 7 months away, no one seems to have the foggiest what will happen when we leave the EU. All kinds of industries are predicting chaos. People in the government have said that the government is making plans to stockpile food, and the public don’t need to worry. However, with ‘just in time’ food supply lines that leave us nine meals away from anarchy, perhaps a little concern is in order. We’ve recently lived through a hummus shortage (due to production issues), a crumpet/fizzy drinks shortage (ditto) and salad shortages (weather issues), and that’s just the ones I (a) noticed and (b) can remember.

Ryan’s dad likes mint sauce on pretty much anything. I grew up in a “mint sauce with roast lamb” household, so I found this slightly odd. In truth I have never cottoned on to the delights of mint sauce, so we don’t keep a jar in the house. It wasn’t until very recently that I discovered that Ryan really likes mint sauce, too. 

It’s two months (nine weeks, actually) since our space garden landed, and Ryan and I became pseudonauts. For the first seven weeks, it grew the selection of herbs it came with – Genovese basil, dill and curly parsley. The basil was the quickest to grow, and the most vigorous. The dill was second and grew tallest. The parsley… well, at the end of seven weeks it was just about getting going.

As it is National Allotments Week, I thought I would share the progress we’re making with our hydroponic indoor ‘allotment’.

Ryan and I have had a couple of spaced out days – we went to visit the Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank and came home via the National Space Centre in Leicester. Of the two, the Space Centre is more interesting for adults, but both destinations suffer from being a popular choice for school trips.

Last Wednesday, our boiler stopped working. The thing that supplies our heating and hot water. Quite why they always chose to do that when you need a shower is beyond me, but they do. Anyway, the engineer came on Thursday afternoon, and given that our boiler is 13 years old, was a budget model when it was installed and has broken down for the third time in three years… we have decided to replace it rather than repair it. (It’s not 100% certain that it could be repaired.)

Header image: NV77/Shutterstock

I woke up on Mars this morning. It’s a lot wetter than I thought it would be

In episode 35, Emma the Space Gardener explores why bioregenerative life support systems are things we only see in the movies, and how far NASA has come in its quest to build a space salad machine.

Header image: Space Salad, credit: University of Adelaide

These days, I try and stay out of politics. It’s not good for my blood pressure. But occasionally the people in power say something so ludicrous that all you can do is laugh.

It’s nearly four years now since I became a hydroponic gardener. The AeroGarden Sprout is a distant memory, a sub-optimal design that was constantly gunged up with limescale and made a tremendous amount of noise. But my much simpler Ikea system is still going strong (despite being discontinued). I use fibre plugs as seedling starters, and a perlite/vermiculite mix for larger plants. And I’m about to run out of stockpiled Ikea liquid feed, so I have a new one from Fertile Fibre to try.

Way back in November 2021, I bought myself a packet of adorable Plantable Spaceships from Ruby & Bo. They are paper rocket ships have been embedded with rocket (arugula) seeds.

Curious about Zucchini vs. Cucumber? Let’s embark on a journey to explore the fascinating differences between these green vegetables.

If you want to make your desserts, smoothies, and fruit salads tastier, then grow Red Custard Apple for a delightful tropical treat!

A Green Thumb Adventure

There are Types of Mints for everything: For fragrance, grow Eau de Cologne and for cooking, plant Spearmint or Vietnamese mint. If you want to garnish your desserts with fruit-scented herbs, strawberry and apple mints are perfect. Grow peppermint for teas and horsemint for medicinal uses and if you have cats, don’t skip catmint!

All too often, homeowners and gardeners wage war against the plants that grow incredibly well in their lawns and gardens but that aren't intentionally planted. And often, the justification for these battles comes down to the words we use to describe them—as in «weeds.»

A cherry plum, sweet, thin-skinned and very prolific (you’ll also find it sold under ‘Red Grape Sugar Plum’). It was in the top three of our recent taste test and everyone liked it for its strong tomato flavour that’s sweet but not overly so, and its firm not mushy texture. It has a slight acidity running through it which all sweet tomatoes need. It ripens quite late compared to ‘Sungold’ and produces for a long period of time. It’s lovely in a mixed salad with the larger varieties. 

Sweet Potato Flowers are not only beautiful to look at, but also offer many uses! Let’s have a look at them in detail!

I touched on cracked tomatoes in the post onthree common tomato problems in the garden. In light of a recent weather change I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the topic and provide a bit more info. After extended dryness we've gotten a bit of moisture. The welcomed rain is unfortunately starting to cause some tomato cracking in the garden.

Don’t like waiting? Want to grow fresh homegrown leafy greens in no time in limited space? Start these Fast-Growing Leafy Green Vegetables You Can Harvest in Just 15 Days. These taste delicious in salads and many dishes!

With its soft, green leaves and a gentle yet unmistakable scent, basil is a herb that simply begs to be used in the kitchen. Whether sprinkled on top of a fresh tomato salad or infused in a homemade pesto, basil leaves are a true delicacy for any food lover. Read on to learn all the Tips to Grow Bigger Basil Leaves.

The last of my root vegetables and Leeks are now consumed and a distant gastronomic memory. New baby salad leaves have been available but I do not take enough care to be able to binge on them until later in the season. Rhubarb once again is prolific and abundant so that I and the neighbours are enjoying the fruit of my labours literally.

Veg Seed Sowing Plans for May To ensure a continuous harvest throughout the summer rather than a glut successional sowing of salads, radishes, beetroots, carrots, autumn giant leeks and spring onions and peas should continue. Sow basil, particularly alongside tomato seedlings to help draw white fly away plus spinach, rocket and ornamental salad leaves. Globe Artichokes and Swiss Chard for looks as well as food. Pole, French and above all Runner Beans Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Savoy Cabbage, Kale and Calabrese

Red food stuff is a popular trend at the moment. Good leafy crops add vibrancy to a salad and you are probably eating well if you grow them yourself.

After salad crop failures in Spain and shortages of courgettes, broccoli and other ‘long distance’ vegetables gardeners could to worse than focus on traditional and non-traditional root crops.

Mesclun is a name for a traditional melange of salad leaves. The name mesclun doesn’t feature in any of my gardening reference books before 1980 so old gardeners may not recognise the term.

You can grow fresh relatively clean vegetables in containers. This is useful for gardeners with restricted space or where you want vegetables close to the kitchen door.

Chives are one of those perennials herbs that you can enjoy in several ways—you can infuse the blossoms in spring to make chive blossom vinegar, chop the tender stalks to use fresh in salads or as garnishes in place of green onions, and dry the leaves to grab from the spice rack and enjoy later. In this article, I’m going to focus on how to dry chives.

If you are someone who loves to see veggies grow fast, then you must check out these delicious and Fast Growing Vegetables For Quick Harvest!

Garden designer Alison Jenkins in her Somerset smallholding

Cardamom vs Coriander – well, there might be a lot to talk about, especially when you want to clear the air of – Is Coriander The Same As Cardamom. Let’s find out!

Botanical Name: Hippeastrum

Convincing children to eat their veggies may sound like an impossible task, but a research study conducted by Parmer, et al. found that “second graders who participated in school gardening as part of a nutrition education class increased their selection and consumption of vegetables at school, compared to second graders who did not participate in gardening”.[1]