Grow Your Own Salad

Growing your own beautiful salad gives you the opportunity to enjoy the freshest, most nutrient-dense and flavorful food possible. Sounds like a great plan, right? Oh, you’re not interested in the burden of a fussy vegetable garden? No problem, there’s an easier—and beautiful-- way! Here I have green leafy veggies (kale, spinach arugula, along with pansies) that are perfect for fall and spring.

Container gardening doesn’t require much effort or space. Growing food in containers can help reduce problems with insects, soilborne diseases and poor soil conditions. Plus, a container salad garden can be moved in order to catch more sun or shade as needed or to avoid extreme weather conditions. This will allow you to grow leafy greens all summer, even though the plants prefer cooler temperatures.

Another benefit of container salad gardening is being able to plant once but harvest multiple times. Leafy greens can often be cut down almost to ground level and will re-grow additional leaves for continuous harvest. Gardeners enjoy three or more harvests from each plant. You will be able to harvest the first crop in just a few short weeks for a salad or a flavorful addition to sandwiches, wraps and other recipes.

Plus, mixing seasonal flowers in your salad container is a beautiful way to decorate your outdoor living space! I just love how happy pansies look peeking out between the leafy greens.

Salad mixes can be planted much closer together than other vegetables since they will not be maturing into full-sized plants. To have a season-long supply of greens, consider staggering your plantings to maintain a continuous supply – step outside your door and harvest your salad from early spring until fall.

Peace & Veggies,

Stacy