Saturday for lunch, my husband and I ate our first produce from this year’s garden.
It was a salad, and a tiny one at that, alas. But I just couldn’t resist. The lettuce I’d sprouted indoors and then planted in troughs on a sunny back patio were growing nicely. The baby romaine was about four inches high. The mesclun greens were coming along. And the arugula was already developing its trademark tang.
So I went out with my scissors. Snip snip. I took just the biggest leaves. More might be ready soon.
I love the range of colors and shapes, the ragged edges and red blotches.
The dressing was a mixture of porcini-infused truffle oil, olive oil and lemon juice. I patted little dollops of goat cheese around the edges of the plate. Delicious!
Meanwhile, the rest of the garden is taking shape. The pea plants are several inches high. The fence is in place. Two rows of spinach are, hopefully, about to sprout, as are other cool-weather crops. Indoors, the basil, parsley, tomatoes, peppers and marigolds are all getting their second leaves. I planted the eggplant in little peat pots Saturday after I ate my salad, and they’re in a sunny window.
The hours we’ve spent on all this are, of course, mounting. A week ago, my husband and I spent several hours together just on the fence. But none of it really feels like work. The day we put the fence up, it was sunny and warm. Any time spent planting seeds is a date with hope and optimism.
And any time spent eating a salad you grew yourself, the most local and freshest greens possible, is sheer bliss.
(Here's the first column on vegetable gardening, introducing the Veggie Chronicles.)
I too had my first salad this week with home grown lettuce. It was fabulous. Added some fresh asparagus which I also picked from my garden. You are right it is work, but the rewards are so worth it.— dreds
Yummy! My lettuce is coming in nicely and is ready to be picked. My roof-top garden is slowly taking shape. I planted so many carrots and mini-sunflowers that I'm going to have to give a lot away. I was just going to leave some outside my front door in containers I've been collecting and let people help themselves. Anything I can do to encourage a home garden :-)— Professor Smart E. Pants, PhD.- Yay! First salad. Veggies from the store is nowhere as good as Veggies from our own garden. First of all, our veggies are purely Organic. Second, you can't beat veggies from your garden freshness. Third, they taste SO MUCH better. Each year I grow cucumber, and they are UNBELIEVABLY sweet. And not too mention fresh mint, fresh basil, fresh lettuce, fresh green onions, fresh chives (I make those yummy chinese chive cakes)... Ah summer!!! Angie - baby heartbeat monitor— angelawalschee
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