Friday, June 03, 2005

Summer of salad


our first garden salad
Originally uploaded by michelle1975.



Our first salad composed entirely of things from our garden is a sign of good things to come. Some of the plants are still babies, so I was careful not to take too many leaves from any one plant. May they grow to be strong and productive. I predict this will be the salad of Summer 2005. It is composed of red and green oak leaf lettuce, arugula, watercress, swiss chard, green and bronze fennel, basil, chervil, parsley, chives, and tarragon. The bronze fennel was the standout. I love fennel, both the bulbs and fronds, and the bronze version made the green one seem tasteless. This autumn, I will save the seeds and grow it in profusion next year. Both the arugula and the watercress were delightfully strong in flavour. I'm going to have to plant successive sowings in the next few weeks to keep us in greens. We dressed it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and ate it in under one minute. Highly recommended.

m

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice looking greens and fresh from your garden too !!!

michelle said...

AJ, I, too, have been beaten down by the strange birds nesting above our balcony. Last year, they snipped all of my calendula sprouts except one. It finally flowered, a lovely sight, and the next day it was beheaded by the birds and found wilted alongside its former body. This year the nasturtiums met a similar fate. When it's from seed, it's all the more painful. They seems to leave the non-edible flowers alone. My loss, I guess. Good luck with your windowboxes. Thanks for reading.

m