Reap & Eat: A Green Salad from Freshly Grown Mixed Baby Lettuce

When you're as impatient as I am everything seems slow to grow, at first.  Naturally this was the case with the mixed baby lettuce I'm growing in an old sink (my way of recycling, not sure if you can even call this recycling).  Then the lettuce seemed to grow over night, day after day the lettuce filled out the sink and it was just as I imagined it would be... an old sink plant bed full of beautiful, lush, edible greens!  I did it!  I did it!  :D  This really is quite an achievement for me, remember I'm the girl that managed to have only one surviving tomato plant out of eleven or so different veg I tried to plant a year ago. Ah~ life is beautiful... today.

So, by the looks of it I needed to make a green salad, after all the sink bed is looking quite crowded and so a good trim would be a very wise thing to do.  

First, let me explain the master plan by which I plot to eat these fresh tender greens, the plan is called "Cut and come again".  The "Cut and come again" method is cutting the leafy lettuce when they are no shorter than 4-5 inches tall, cut them 1-2 inches above the soil, and the lettuce will grow back (or keep growing I should say to be more precise).  Apparently you can repeat this method for another three or four times or until the lettuce begins tasting like rubber, which probably would be a great time for me to dump it into the compost and start anew, or if I was smart I would have already started another lettuce bed (but I haven't yet and really should :/ *shrug).  I cut only what I needed and left the rest to keep growing.

With my kitchen sheers and bowl I went out to gather some fresh mixed baby greens.  I cut only the leaves that were 4 inches or taller and left 1 inch above the soil line.  I thought there wouldn't be nearly enough for two but there was, looks can be awfully deceiving (a very important all-around life lesson).

The greens were indeed fresh and I was able to tell immediately by the moist buttery texture.  I dressed the mixed baby greens with a very easy-to-make red wine vinaigrette.

Ingredients I needed:

Red wine vinegar

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

1 Small minced or squished garlic (I always squish my garlic since it's much easier to do with my handy dandy garlic squisheing gadget thingy)

What I did to make red-wine vinaigrette:

1.  In a small bowl I poured the olive oil and red wine vinegar, 3 parts olive oil and 1 part vinegar (sometimes I really want to taste the tangy vinegar and so I'll add a little more than a 3:1 ratio but I never really go past 2:1).

2.  I Add two pinches of salt and four grinds of black pepper (I love pepper, never can get enough of the stuff).

3.  Then I squished a small clove of garlic right into the mixture.

4.  And whisked away with a fork until the mixture was emulsified.

Lettuce Growing up

Oh my, how my mixed baby lettuce have come a long way.  I remember when they were barely there...

"Late bloomers"

When I thinned out the seedlings

Remember I thinned out the mixed lettuce green bed thinking I had only been successful in growing a couple handfuls of lettuce and thanking the universe for even small favors, apparently I was wrong.  A couple days after I thinned out the mixed lettuce many many more little seedlings popped up!    And on top of the surprising good news of many more seedlings it seems that all but a couple of the lettuce seedlings I replanted for the sake of room to grow has made it through healthy.  Yay for me! :)

After I thinned out the seedlings

Read the previous post on thinning out the mixed lettuce seedlings

Thinning Mixed Baby Lettuce Seedlings

Thinning tender greens such as the mixed baby lettuce I've got growing in an old sink can be nerve-racking, my heart was pounding and my hands a bit shaky (I definitely would not make a good surgeon), but I had to do this for the sake of growing healthy lettuce, which requires not only light, water and air-circulation but also room to grow, having grown up in a house with two other siblings and over-bearing parents I can understand why.

I planted a blanket of seeds through-out the sink bed but it seems only a couple handfuls had chosen to grow the rest decided to bolt I suspect figuring they had something better to do, still, I figure this is a pretty good outcome for a first-timer and am grateful that I even have these few little lettuce seedlings to tend to.

Many of the little seedlings had grown within very close proximity of each other creating a kind of metropolis of lettuce seed leaves, this just won't do for healthy lettuce, they will no doubt be fighting for space, nutrition and water, thus thinning out was in order (moving seedlings further apart).  I thought them too small to begin thinning, the leaves being still very small and tender, I wasn't quite sure whether my clumsy hands would be capable but I hadn't a choice and so, just went for it.

I thought that watering the bed down would have made things easier but actually the wetness made it more difficult.  Watering the bed down simple made the soil clump which made it harder to dig up the seedlings and shake off the excess soil.  In any case I had already started and couldn't stop now so I pressed on wet soil and all.  I dug up the concentrated batch of seedlings, with my spade I went straight down as far as I could go without disturbing other seedlings that didn't need to be moved and dug up slowly.  Slowly and carefully was of utmost importance as the only thing on my mind was not to harm these tender leaved seedlings' roots, you can nip the green which would grow back but harming the root system means saying good-bye forever.

I was surprised to see how long some of the roots were on these little seedlings

Slowly, one by one I took a seedling and planted it elsewhere, making sure to spread them out.  Luckily I only had to deal with two clumps of seedlings, by the time I was on my second clump of seedlings my hands were a bit more confident and so was I.  

I'm sure some of the seedlings will die, it would be unfortunate but not unheard of, I would have to simply start all over again and that would be that.  Like I said before, planting and growing is all trial and error and learning loads on the way.

All done and looking a little claustrophobic 

Mixed Baby Green Sprouts: From One To Many

I was so excited and charmed by the one mixed baby green that sprouted amongst a blanket of seeds planted in an old sink, but now look how many I have!  Surely a lot more could be sprouted for the sink is not yet fully covered with sprouts but the other seeds are indeed making their way, everyday one or two more pops up, hopefully the sink will be covered in little green sprouts in no time, and you can bet I'll take a picture of that to share!

Planting Leafy Greens In Summer's Full Sun

Apparently "mixed lettuces thrive in mild weather with consistent moisture" and like to be kept in full sun during the Spring, however it may be too hot in full sun during the Summer- this is the information I got from the packet which my mixed baby green seeds came from, my immediate question was 1. What do they mean by mild weather?  And 2. How hot is hot for the mixed baby greens during Summer?  So while it seemed at first the packet gave helpful information it actually wasn't very helpful at all, just very general.

But it is Summer in good old Southern California and my best guess is that the full sun in California Summer is going to be too hot.  So I planted the mixed baby green seeds into an old sink, this makes it mobile, should I find that they are getting too much sun or not enough sun I can move the whole planter elsewhere, albeit a bit heavy.  While I have set the planter out in a space in my yard that gets full sun for at least half a day I have decided to err on the side of safety from burning the poor little babies and have shielded them with a window screen found in the yard, so while they are getting full sun they do have a bit of protection.

The old window screen has worked great so far with no problems, it is light enough to handle yet heavy enough to keep in place, the screen also keeps all the critters away especially the birdies that love to eat the seeds and also allows cool air to still pass through whilst doing all these other things.

We've Got sproutage!

BUSH BEANS TOOK 6 DAYS TO COME OUT OF THE GROUND, LOOK HOW LOVELY THEY LOOK
WITH LEAVES PROTRUDING FROM THEIR LITTLE BEAN HEADS.

There is nothing more exciting than watching your little seedlings grow.  After I plant my seeds I watch for sprouts everyday, and with every day that goes by without any sprouts is just a little bit sadder than the day before but it's all well worth it when you see those first sprouts.  "Oh I'm so proud of you" I tell them "you made it", not that sprouting your little seedlings is the end of the battle, actually it's just the beginning, battling bugs and critters to keep away and keeping your little plants alive and healthy is what lays on the horizon.  But for today lets celebrate with pictures of my first bush bean, basil and mixed baby green lettuce sprouts!

BASIL TOOK A LITTLE BIT OVER A 1 WEEK TO SPROUT, I PLANTED 3 SEEDS IN ONE HOLD JUST
IN CASE THE OTHER 2 DIDN'T MAKE IT BUT IT LOOKS LIKE WE'VE GOT 2 SURVIVORS!

MIXED BABY GREENS TOOK 5 DAYS TO SPROUT, I LOOSELY SOWED A
BLANKET OF MIXED BABY GREEN LETTUCE AND SO FAR I'VE GOT 3 BABY
SPROUTS, I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING MANY MORE
LITTLE HEADS COVER THE SPACE I'VE SEEDED.