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.

Anti-Grasshopper (Dishsoap & Water) Solution, Does It Work?

Over the past weekend I decided to regain control of the bush bean from the rampant baby hoppers that have been demolishing the leaves, quite literally too!  Boy do these little things have an appetite, half to a whole leaf can be gone over night!  As a way of defending the bush bean I mixed a solution of water and dish soap (2tbsp/1gal water) where I read somewhere was supposed to work.  I sprayed the leaves of the bush bean and gave it a couple of days to see what would happen, everyday that past I looked in on the bush bean carefully taking note if there were any new missing leaves or baby hoppers still hanging about.

As you can see from the picture below the hoppers didn't miraculously disappear but my leaves continuously did.  Okay, okay so I may be exaggerating a bit... in all honesty, the solution may have worked a little bit but not entirely and not nearly enough in my opinion, every day I find a new hoppers on my bush bean and I've noticed that they found the second bush bean as well, so here's to finding a new way!  I really didn't want to go to the extent of killing these little dudes (because they are kinda cute) but I'm afraid my choices are very limited and I'd rather have my bush beans than a yard full of hoppers.

So... Second line of attack, dusting the bush beans with baking flour.  Apparently a good dusting of baking flour will kill the hoppers, when they try to eat the leaves covered with baking flour the flour acts as a glue in their mouth sealing their mouths shut, eventually they die of starvation (which is kind of sad I know) but here goes for the sake of saving the bush bean and finding out what works!

WHAT I NEEDED (and what you'll need too if you decide to give this a go):

1. 1/2-1 cup of baking flour (I used all purpose flour since that's all I had in the pantry, I figure flour is flour? - I hope)

2. Sifter (easier to dust with, I would have much rather preferred a smaller sifter but this is all I had, on the brighter side it'll cover more space in a short period of time).

Armed with my baking flour and my sifter of steel I traversed down and pass the creaky back patio and dusted with my all!... The bush bean.

At first there was a gust of wind and that didn't work out too well for me but gusts of wind in SoCal is pretty far and few inbetween, I only had to wait for a few seconds to go on with my dusting, and it only took me less than a minute.  I hope this works, we soon shall see so check-in for updates!  Until then, happy gardening!

Read the previous post, Oh For Goodness Sake! Grasshoppers!

Read the later post for results on baking flour dusting, Anti-Hopper Flour Dusting, Does It Or Doesn't It work?

Oh For Goodness Sake! Grasshoppers!

Little tiny baby grasshoppers can be cute as hell (as all most tiny things are) but they sure become a nuisance faster than you can go "aww, how cute".

What the heck is eating the bush beans?!  This was the question for the past two weeks or so, huge gaping holes and large missing parts of the leaves of the bush bean had me pondering up a storm, some leaves were completely demolished.  Then I saw these little green hopper dudes, like I said, cute as hell right?  I mean, just look how tiny he is in the picture below, but boy does he have an appetite. And in the back of mind, although I didn't want to outright admit it or perhaps it was more that I didn't want to come to terms with it, I knew this little hopper wasn't alone.  And I was right, I saw more little hopper dudes on my basil plant, that's when I realized I had to regain control.

I read somewhere on a gardening forum about a home remedy made of water and a little bit of dishsoap that can be sprayed on leaves being attacked by hoppers, apparently they don't like the taste of dishsoap very much, this is supposed to help thwart the hoppers from making a dinner out of your grows.

I bought a small spray bottle for $1.99 at a random store, filled it with a couple drops of soap (apparently the solution calls for 2tbsp of dishsoap per every 1 gal of water) so I figured a couple of drops would suffice for a spray bottle this small.  I filled the spray bottle with the solution and went right to spray mode.  I'm not quite sure if this will work, it seems to make logical sense that yes, the hoppers wouldn't like the taste of dishsoap, so I have my fingers crossed with the little hope that I can see it working.  In any case we soon shall see, so make sure to check in to read results!

Read the results, Anti-Grasshopper (Dishsoap & Water) Solution, Does It Work?

The Basil Bites The Dust

The basil has officially died :(  I did all in my power to protect this tender leafed seedling.  When I first realized the basil was getting too much sun which was outright burning the tender leaves I went straight away to giving it some more shade and more warmth instead of direct sunlight, this seemed to considerably slow down the burning of the leaves and dare I say even stopped this from happening, but then one afternoon I came out and found that the basil had just withered away.  I suppose this is what I get for trying to start the basil outside right away instead of adhering to the suggestion of growing it indoors first.

So, now I've planted a new basil seed indoors, where the light and outside natural forces isn't so harsh.

Sad I am that the basil didn't make it, however, I'd be lying if I said I was at all surprised, this has happened to me before with the basil, I find them quite hard to grow, they never seem to get any bigger than a seedling before they just give-up on what could have been.

So with a newly planted basil seed indoors I'm looking forward with a renewed sense of hope to seeing the new little seedling pop-up in about a week and hopefully keeping them alive this time!  In the mean time I've read-up on basil in my little handy growing book to keep everything fresh and new in my mind come basil seedling time.  Here are some interesting general facts that should help me loads, and if you're having the same trouble with the basil growing it should help you too. 

'Keep the soil moderately moist, but allow it to dry out ever so slightly between watering.  If there is one thing basil doesn't like, it's sitting in cold, soggy soil.  Yet for a sun- and heat-loving plant, it is surprisingly temperamental about light.  It took me years to work out that too much midday sun can burn the leaves, especially when it comes to the soft and tender varieties.  

For this reason, tall, vining tomato plants make a perfect partner in the garden as well as on the plate.  Their leaves provide a bit of dappled shade, and the basil, in turn, protects the tomato's roots and repels pests.  

Most problems come down to the weather and growing conditions.

Pull out the entire plant if it continuously looks droopy or turns brown or yellow (or both), and avoid growing basil in that spot again.

The key to starting a basil crop is patience.  It's a fickle herb that hails from warm parts of the world and does not adapt well to cold, wet weather.  Basil is always the very last plant I put outdoors; I'll plant it only after nighttime temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees fahrenheit.'  -Easy Growing, Organic Herbs and Edible Flowers from Small Spaces by Gayla Trail

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 

My Basil Leaves Are Burning!

I began with three basil seedlings and one by one slowly they disappeared, leaf by leaf (literally)!  And now sadly I'm down to one basil seedling and by the looks of it it isn't going to be around much longer.  My initial thought was that the sun exposure was too much for these tender leaved little dudes, but I had planted them under a rather tall rose bush that would give them a bit of shade and a bit of shade is what they got.

I looked to my handy dandy growing book, flipped to the basil section,

"Keep the soil moderately moist, but allow it to dry out ever so slightly between watering.  If there is one thing basil doesn't like, it's sitting in cold, soggy soil.  Yet for a sun- and heat-loving plant, it is surprisingly temperamental about light.  It took me years to work out that too much midday sun can burn the leaves, especially when it comes to the soft and tender varieties."  - Gayla Trail, Easy Growing

My suspicions about too much sun burning off the leaves of my basil was somewhat confirmed, I find that when it comes to planting and growing it is often difficult to know exactly what it is that's killing your plant, there are just so many factors that come into play.  Is it the sun?  Is it over-watering?  Is it too moist?  Too dry?  The list goes on.

In efforts to save my last but sickly looking basil seedling I created a kind of biosphere to keep in the warmth while adding more shade.  I used an old plastic strawberry container, wrapped it in saran wrap, poked holes in the wrap for ventilation and placed it so that the basil seedling was enclosed in it.  It was definitely a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants idea and I'm not quite sure it'll work in my endeavors to keep the warmth around the basil but we'll see soon enough.  For added shade I threw over an old small bath rug on top of its cage.

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.