Monday, May 19, 2008

And how does her garden grow?

First salad from deck plantings

Does urban container gardening get any better than this? Although I picked a few leaves yesterday to supplement a salad I made for an impromptu lunch with friends, this is the first salad entirely from lettuce grown in the pots on my deck! I added a few chopped red mini-peppers, and a slice of Spanish Drunken Goat Cheese (I have to wonder if the goats were drunk, or they added some liqueur in the making of the cheese!). I dressed it with a little balsamic vinegar and wow, I haven't tasted lettuce like this since my mother used to make salads from lettuce in her raised lettuce beds she induced my Dad to build under a section of our carport in Everett (WA). She then could practically raise it year round.

Lettuce and mint

This is what the lettuce garden looked like April 14th, when I asked, Locavore or just loca?

Lettuce May 18, 2008

And here is the snap of it, just before harvesting for the salad!

Hopeful for Harvest

On April 27th I shot this photo of my newly planted tomato plant.

Tomato Plant May 18, 2008

And here's what it looks like now!

And I can't resist entering this post into , hosted this week by Cate at Sweetnicks.

Naturally, my featured herb is lettuce, and look here for "The Health Differences of Different Types of Lettuce". And this article gives some obscure advice about the benefits of lettuce such as: "A mixture of lettuce and spinach juice is said to help the growth of hair if drunk to the extent of a pint or so a day. So much hair loss is caused by your genetic inheritance and not through deficiencies that this information is given for the sake of the desperate." Lettuce is a great source of folic acid, and the fresher the better according to another article. Given my lack of gardening experience, I'm thrilled with how this is turning out. If you ever thought of trying your hand and have hesitated, feel empowered! It's pretty easy and very rewarding!

3 comments:

  1. It is so fun and rewarding to grow something from seed to harvest. Congrats on your home-grown salad!

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  2. Love your lettuce!

    Have you seen a salad table?

    Want to make one?

    http://mg2007.uaex.edu/presentations/building_salad_table.pdf

    The Greater Baltimore Master Gardeners have been promoting them for a couple of years.

    Lots of oohs and ahhs at festivals.

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