Oh green and glorious, oh herbaceous treat.
T’would tempt the dying authority to eat.
Backward to earth, he’d turn his weary soul,
And plunge his fingers in the sallad bowl,
Serenely full, the epicure would say
“Fate cannot harm me – I have dined today!”
Poet Sidney Smith (1796)
Backward to earth, he’d turn his weary soul,
And plunge his fingers in the sallad bowl,
Serenely full, the epicure would say
“Fate cannot harm me – I have dined today!”
Poet Sidney Smith (1796)
Surviving the doldrums of winter, I look with great anticipation, as many fellow gardeners, to the fruits of our labor from orchard, berry patch and vegetable garden. Thinking most fondly of tastes remembered my mouth waters and stomach growls for the first vine ripened tomatoes, sweet melons, toothsome corn, fragrant little new potatoes or slender and crisp snap beans. Summer’s bounty is yet a long way off and body and soul need the nourishment of a spring tonic. I await the first green salad of the season with fervor and longing.
Growing up in western North Carolina, the first salad of the season was a mixture of wild greens my grandfather would gather – rocket, rape, dandelion, lambs quarters, pepper grass, Good King Henry – lightly dressed and wilted with smoky bacon drippings and sharp cider vinegar. Our blood was cleansed and we felt renewed after a long winter of preserved foods. Now, I can think of no greater joy than of taking basket to garden and picking fresh salad greens for dinner, washing them carefully and dressing lightly with a simple mixture of good olive oil and vinegar, mustard, garlic and fresh herbs. Fresh salad should be allowed to sing on center stage and any dressing an accompaniment bringing together all in harmony and balance.
Whereas lettuces are the foundation of a green salad, I enjoy a combination of greens to bring textural interest and flavor variation combining elements of sweet and savory, spicy or bitter. Depending on the season numerous elements abound that add interest to the many lettuces we can grow – tender pea tendrils, baby mustards, beet greens, or kale, arugula, spinach, various chicories (dandelion, endive, escarole, and radicchio), Mache, miner’s lettuce, pursulane, pepper cress, upland cress, watercress, beet berry and amaranth. Fresh herbs used in small quantities also add interest and flavor to the variety of mixed greens. Little snippets of fennel fronds, chives, garlic chives, basil, chervil, parsley, lovage, dill, mint, burnet, sorrel, borage, or costmary when used with restraint bring a new dimension to a fresh green salad. For fun and visual interest try adding some edible flowers such as viola, nasturtium, calendula petals, borage, or chive.
Since time immortal when agriculture took hold and man began to garden, salads were among the first plants to be cultivated. Colonists brought their favorite seeds to the New World, establish their gardens of sallets and potherbs, and dined on numerous varieties of these seasonal treasures. Interestingly enough, lettuce was not always served raw as they are used almost exclusively today. They can be cooked indeed and were normally eaten cooked till the time of Louis XVI when Chevalier d’Albignac dressed raw lettuce with vinaigrette.
Now in high culinary fashion, green leafy salads are commonly offered in numerous versions. Is it due to our determination to eat healthy? Is it because culinary fashion dictates we do so? Or is it perhaps merely a restaurant trick to appease our appetites while dinner preparations are being made. For me it is merely because I enjoy growing and eating salad greens fresh from the garden. No supermarket messes will ever compare to these in flavor, freshness and variety. Try growing your own. Salad greens are some of the easiest and most rewarding plants to grow. One thing for sure, “bottled dressing – not on my fresh salad!”
Growing up in western North Carolina, the first salad of the season was a mixture of wild greens my grandfather would gather – rocket, rape, dandelion, lambs quarters, pepper grass, Good King Henry – lightly dressed and wilted with smoky bacon drippings and sharp cider vinegar. Our blood was cleansed and we felt renewed after a long winter of preserved foods. Now, I can think of no greater joy than of taking basket to garden and picking fresh salad greens for dinner, washing them carefully and dressing lightly with a simple mixture of good olive oil and vinegar, mustard, garlic and fresh herbs. Fresh salad should be allowed to sing on center stage and any dressing an accompaniment bringing together all in harmony and balance.
Whereas lettuces are the foundation of a green salad, I enjoy a combination of greens to bring textural interest and flavor variation combining elements of sweet and savory, spicy or bitter. Depending on the season numerous elements abound that add interest to the many lettuces we can grow – tender pea tendrils, baby mustards, beet greens, or kale, arugula, spinach, various chicories (dandelion, endive, escarole, and radicchio), Mache, miner’s lettuce, pursulane, pepper cress, upland cress, watercress, beet berry and amaranth. Fresh herbs used in small quantities also add interest and flavor to the variety of mixed greens. Little snippets of fennel fronds, chives, garlic chives, basil, chervil, parsley, lovage, dill, mint, burnet, sorrel, borage, or costmary when used with restraint bring a new dimension to a fresh green salad. For fun and visual interest try adding some edible flowers such as viola, nasturtium, calendula petals, borage, or chive.
Since time immortal when agriculture took hold and man began to garden, salads were among the first plants to be cultivated. Colonists brought their favorite seeds to the New World, establish their gardens of sallets and potherbs, and dined on numerous varieties of these seasonal treasures. Interestingly enough, lettuce was not always served raw as they are used almost exclusively today. They can be cooked indeed and were normally eaten cooked till the time of Louis XVI when Chevalier d’Albignac dressed raw lettuce with vinaigrette.
Now in high culinary fashion, green leafy salads are commonly offered in numerous versions. Is it due to our determination to eat healthy? Is it because culinary fashion dictates we do so? Or is it perhaps merely a restaurant trick to appease our appetites while dinner preparations are being made. For me it is merely because I enjoy growing and eating salad greens fresh from the garden. No supermarket messes will ever compare to these in flavor, freshness and variety. Try growing your own. Salad greens are some of the easiest and most rewarding plants to grow. One thing for sure, “bottled dressing – not on my fresh salad!”
Regarding Lettuce (Lactuca sativa sp.)
Since lettuces are a main component in most leafy green salads let us turn our attention to matter of the cultivation of lettuces. All lettuces are from the Asteraceae (formerly Compositae) family which includes many edible greens and some edible roots as well. The plant’s modern botanical name, Lactuca, comes from the Latin root word lac meaning milk because the sap of the plant has a thick, milky juice once thought to have significant medicinal properties. Today there are literally thousands of cultivars of lettuce – all sprung from wild lettuces from northern Europe, Asia, North Africa and parts of North America.
Lettuce Types
There are numerous varieties of lettuce types and cultivars. Seed Saver’s Exchange 2007 yearbook offers 297 varieties, a seemingly daunting number but knowing the classifications and similar characteristics within each classification can be of great use in determining which to plant.
- Heading lettuces (“iceberg lettuce”): Require more growing space, have longer growing times, more likely to bolt, more susceptible to pests and disease, have less nutritive value, and have less flavor.
- Romaine lettuces (Cos lettuces): Known since Roman times; achieved fame in America with the popularity of Caesar salad; crisp texture with a distinctive faintly bitter flavor; some heat tolerance
- Batavian lettuces: One of the best tasting lettuce types but generally unknown in the U.S.; hardiest of all lettuce types withstanding summer heat and winter cold; described as semi-heading as it neither forms a true head or nor described as a looseleaf either; some head more than others
- Butterhead (Buttercrunch, Bibb, Boston, Limehead): Very soft and buttery texture with delicate flavor; small varieties may be used as one person salad; some heat tolerance
- Looseleaf lettuces: Many broad types with numerous variants; can be divided into green and red (purple-tinged or bronze); especially favored as a component of mixed baby salad greens; best grown in cool weather as it tends to bolt or become bitter in the summer heat
Culture
Lettuces are by nature one of the most hardy of cool season plants. By choice of variety and different cultural practices it is possible to grow tasty salad greens in our area almost year round. Lettuces can be planted as early as the soil can be worked. Many do best when the air temperature is between 60°- 70° F but will germinate well in soil temperatures as low as 40° F. Lettuces can be direct seeded or transplanted in spring or fall and no special considerations.
For summer choose heat tolerant verities such as Batavian, Romaine or Butterhead. Your seed catalogues provide excellent information on each variety particularly listing heat tolerant varieties. I prefer to use transplants for summer plantings as the seed tends to be difficult to germinate when planted directly in the garden. It is also helpful to offer summer lettuces with some modicum of shade to mitigate summers heat. This can be accomplished by using some shading fabric, some latticed slats or planting in an area that is shaded for a portion of the day (particularly mid day sun).
For winter planting choose the best cold tolerant varieties (again refer to your seed catalogues). Although some lettuces can supposedly withstand air temperatures down to as low as 20° F offering protection seems to be the best option for a continual supply of salad greens throughout the winter. The measures used do not have to be as drastic as a greenhouse but can be as simple as some sort of crude cold frame or tunnel cloche. I find transplants work well with this type of system.
Lettuces are heavy feeders and prefer soil that is enriched with compost or well rotted manure requiring moderately fertile soil. The use of raised beds is a particularly effective way to grow salad greens. Whereas the lettuce bed can ultimately provide greens year round best practices dictate that the bed is moved annually to minimize soil-disease risks.
Direct Sow either in rows or broadcast in a wide bed (good practice for baby greens). Plant seeds _ to _ inch deep 1 inch apart with rows 16 to 18 inches apart. Cover the seeds lightly but firmly and gently water in. After 2 to 3 true leaves have formed, thin looseleaf varieties 10 to 14 inches apart and Romaine, Batavian, and Bibb varieties 12 to 16 inches apart.
Transplants are started by sowing 3 to 4 seeds into 1 inch cell trays filled with sterile seedling mix 3 to 4 weeks prior to planting out, 4 weeks being best in summer and winter periods. Try to keep them below 65° F. Harden off plants for 2 or 3 days before planting in the garden bed, reducing their water and the ambient temperature.
Water lettuces well and regularly. Harvest may be made at various stages of growth depending on whether you want baby greens or the entire plant when it reaches moderate growth. By far younger lettuces are sweeter and tenderer and have a tendency to become somewhat tough and bitter if allowed to become too mature. This is particularly true of summer grown lettuces. On the average lettuces spend up to six weeks in the garden bed depending on season, the weather and the variety. Remember lettuces grow slowly in quite cool weather and quickly in warm weather. Again cultivar selection is important in relation to the growing season. With some careful selection, planning and season extending techniques it is fairly easy to have delicious fresh green “sallet” year round.
