We are planning on planting vegetables again this summer now that our dogs
are older and will leave the plot alone. We live in the Niagara, Canada
area - very hot and humid summers (it's a fruit belt region) and very cold
winters.

I am looking for advice on growing different greens - specifically for
salads, like the Spring Mix they sell at the grocery stores. I am only
familiar with the usual run of the mill greens like iceberg, romaine, etc.,
but would love some ideas as to what would make a great "salad greens"
garden.

Thanks very much,
Rachel.

How about trying Italian arugula and some purple Orach. The arugula is slow
to bolt even in hot summers. I like the ones I can keep picking all season
so I usually get the non-head forming types. I love greens and enjoy the
spicy ones. French Sorrel tatses lemony and is great for soups and sauces
for seafood. Do you know salad burnet? It tastes like cucumbers and it's
frilly and fun. I like the Territorial seed company that has a huge
selection of interesting ones. It's been good seed for me.
Jane

"ABC" wrote in message
...
We are planning on planting vegetables again this summer now that our dogs
are older and will leave the plot alone. We live in the Niagara, Canada
area - very hot and humid summers (it's a fruit belt region) and very cold
winters.

I am looking for advice on growing different greens - specifically for
salads, like the Spring Mix they sell at the grocery stores. I am only
familiar with the usual run of the mill greens like iceberg, romaine,
etc.,
but would love some ideas as to what would make a great "salad greens"
garden.

Thanks very much,
Rachel.

ABC wrote:

We are planning on planting vegetables again this summer now that our dogs
are older and will leave the plot alone. We live in the Niagara, Canada
area - very hot and humid summers (it's a fruit belt region) and very cold
winters.

I am looking for advice on growing different greens - specifically for
salads, like the Spring Mix they sell at the grocery stores. I am only
familiar with the usual run of the mill greens like iceberg, romaine, etc.,
but would love some ideas as to what would make a great "salad greens"
garden.

Thanks very much,
Rachel.


Iceberg lettuce is hard to grow. Don't bother. I haven't tried to grow
romaine. Leaf lettuces, like Black Seeded Simpson and Red Sail are easy to
grow in early spring.

Boc choi (pac choi?) is wonderful mixed with iceburg lettuce. I recently
discovered it at a Oriental market. It's probably even better mixed with a
more interesting lettuce. When I can find it, I buy the short ones with
flower buds starting to form.

Plant spinach as soon as the ground can be worked. It makes a good salad
greens.

Best regards,
Bob

--
Have a Windows® computer that is powered on for hours at a time? Join the
search for a cure for cancer: http://grid.org/projects/cancer/

On Tue, 11 Mar 2003 11:08:40 -0600, zxcvbob
wrote:




Iceberg lettuce is hard to grow. Don't bother. I haven't tried to grow
romaine. Leaf lettuces, like Black Seeded Simpson and Red Sail are easy to
grow in early spring.

I found romaine just as easy to grow as the leaf lettuces.

I was able to provide shade for my lettuce on the very hot
days, and this seemed to really help keep them producing,
even in summer's heat. I grew them in pots, and pulled the
pots over to the roofed (shaded) area of our deck on hot
sunny days - but shade cloth would also work.


Boc choi (pac choi?) is wonderful mixed with iceburg lettuce. I recently
discovered it at a Oriental market. It's probably even better mixed with a
more interesting lettuce. When I can find it, I buy the short ones with
flower buds starting to form.


I've always used bok choy (it has a variety of spellings!)
for stir-fries, so I'm glad you mentioned this - I'll
definitely try it in salads this year.

Pat
--
CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/
International: http://www.thehungersite.com/

"ABC" wrote in message
...
We are planning on planting vegetables again this summer now that our
dogs
are older and will leave the plot alone. We live in the Niagara,
Canada
area - very hot and humid summers (it's a fruit belt region) and very
cold
winters.

I am looking for advice on growing different greens - specifically for
salads, like the Spring Mix they sell at the grocery stores. I am
only
familiar with the usual run of the mill greens like iceberg, romaine,
etc.,
but would love some ideas as to what would make a great "salad greens"
garden.

You might try one of the Mesclun seed mixes available in many seed
catalogs. -Olin

I would look for different types of "leaf lettuces" instead of head types.
Arugula, spinach, red sails, mustard (southern giant curled), chicoree, red
summer crisp(sierra), red oakleaf, winter density, radicchio and crispy
frills are just a few I've grown with success in the past.

I usually find seed packages in hardware stores or garden centers. I just
choose ones that look interesting and grow them. So far, I haven't been
disappointed. The spinach and red leaf types are my favorite. Arugula was
my absolute favorite until I discovered I am prone to allergic reactions
from eating it. It's the only thing in the entire world that I'm allergic
go - go figure. Now I grow lots of mustard greens to mix into salads for
some spice.

Hope this answers some of your questions. Good luck.

Penny
Zone 7b- North Carolina
"ABC" wrote in message
...
We are planning on planting vegetables again this summer now that our dogs
are older and will leave the plot alone. We live in the Niagara, Canada
area - very hot and humid summers (it's a fruit belt region) and very cold
winters.

I am looking for advice on growing different greens - specifically for
salads, like the Spring Mix they sell at the grocery stores. I am only
familiar with the usual run of the mill greens like iceberg, romaine,
etc.,
but would love some ideas as to what would make a great "salad greens"
garden.

Thanks very much,
Rachel.

On Tue, 11 Mar 2003 17:58:21 GMT, Pat Meadows
wrote:

On Tue, 11 Mar 2003 11:08:40 -0600, zxcvbob
wrote:




Iceberg lettuce is hard to grow. Don't bother. I haven't tried to grow
romaine. Leaf lettuces, like Black Seeded Simpson and Red Sail are easy to
grow in early spring.

I found romaine just as easy to grow as the leaf lettuces.

So have I. I have redsails and romaine growing next to each other
along the shade of a wood fence. I have buttercrunch, bib and spinach
in another row. I have also made salads with colards, cauliflower
leaves, broccoli leaves and Brussels sprouts leaves. I have some
oxalis that would also go into a salad if I remember to pick it when
I'm getting the other greens. There are lots of stuff that you can
make salads out of.

Rachel-
You could try Stokes (www.stokeseeds.com) located in nearby St. Catharines.
Plenty to choose from. Navigate to Vegetables/Lettuce/Looseleaf.

Good luck.
K&B
Ottawa
zone 5

"ABC" wrote in message
...
We are planning on planting vegetables again this summer now that our dogs
are older and will leave the plot alone. We live in the Niagara, Canada
area - very hot and humid summers (it's a fruit belt region) and very cold
winters.

I am looking for advice on growing different greens - specifically for
salads, like the Spring Mix they sell at the grocery stores. I am only
familiar with the usual run of the mill greens like iceberg, romaine,
etc.,
but would love some ideas as to what would make a great "salad greens"
garden.

Thanks very much,
Rachel.

ABC wrote in message ...
We are planning on planting vegetables again this summer now that our dogs
are older and will leave the plot alone. We live in the Niagara, Canada
area - very hot and humid summers (it's a fruit belt region) and very cold
winters.

I am looking for advice on growing different greens - specifically for
salads, like the Spring Mix they sell at the grocery stores. I am only
familiar with the usual run of the mill greens like iceberg, romaine, etc.,
but would love some ideas as to what would make a great "salad greens"
garden.

Thanks very much,
Rachel.

First off, it depends on your soil and hours of sunlight in your
garden. Radicchio will do better than other plants in poor soil.
Certain greens will do well in the spring and certain greens will do
well in the fall. A few greens will do well in the heat of summer.
Certain greens will happily overwinter and give you an extra early
salad.

At any rate, as many others have said, you should consider mostly leaf
lettuce (if lettuce is what you want), which is more productive,
better tasting, and earlier cropping than other varieties. There are
many greens that I like, but
I found that in Michigan summer greens do not do well (that eliminates
nasturtium, purslane, and amaranth. In my native Georgia, purslane is
an incredible weed). I found that lettuce is, generally, best grown in
the spring (possibly with a fall planting, overwintering, for an extra
early crop in April). I also have a permanent sorrel plot (a
perennial, but the leaves are a bit sour for me) and a permament mache
plot (an annual that overwinters without cover in MI and is ready in
April before reseeding prodigiously in May)

For fall greens, you have more choice. Most mustards prefer a fall
planting, and that includes arugula and tatsoi. I love tatsoi but it
is not as productive (per square foot) as arugula. What is very
productive is radicchio, which is outrageously expensive in the US but
I bought it cheap in a Windsor, Canada, italian shop (since then I
have been collecting my own seeds). I typically harvest the last heads
in mid-january (under cover). I get a second, smaller crop of arugula
and radicchio in late march (not this year though). Radicchio is
planted in early summer and takes up a certain amount of space-time,
but it is wonderful to make a salad out of a single head, and
productive per square foot.

To me veggie gardening is mostly salad gardening, and I manage to have
at least some crop nine to ten months of the year. In the spring
around here, if you have the time to pick them, dandelion leaves,
daylily shoots, grape tender leaves, field cress are plentiful. You
can also interplant greens with other crops, most notably with garlic
and under tomatoes.

ABC wrote:

We are planning on planting vegetables again this summer now that our dogs
are older and will leave the plot alone. We live in the Niagara, Canada
area - very hot and humid summers (it's a fruit belt region) and very cold
winters.

I am looking for advice on growing different greens - specifically for
salads, like the Spring Mix they sell at the grocery stores. I am only
familiar with the usual run of the mill greens like iceberg, romaine, etc.,
but would love some ideas as to what would make a great "salad greens"
garden.

Thanks very much,
Rachel.


Iceberg lettuce is hard to grow. Don't bother. I haven't tried to grow
romaine. Leaf lettuces, like Black Seeded Simpson and Red Sail are easy to
grow in early spring.

Boc choi (pac choi?) is wonderful mixed with iceburg lettuce. I recently
discovered it at a Oriental market. It's probably even better mix


I have a smaller space since I moved -- so Iam container gardening. I got a
packet of mixed greens ( almost every seed catalog carries these ). This
year, I planted several in a jiffy nine peat pot and then later transplanted
them in an eight inch pot. That was a month ago. I used a potting mix and
earthworm castings for fertilizer. We have been having delicious greens since
last week.

Am doing the same thing with pak-choi and hebs -- since I am particularly
partial to baby greens and herbs.

The advantage is that you have clean vegetables and are assuredly organic.

have fun.

/z.

On Tue, 11 Mar 2003 11:40:51 -0500, ABC wrote:

We are planning on planting vegetables again this summer now that our dogs
are older and will leave the plot alone. We live in the Niagara, Canada
area - very hot and humid summers (it's a fruit belt region) and very cold
winters.

I am looking for advice on growing different greens - specifically for
salads, like the Spring Mix they sell at the grocery stores. I am only
familiar with the usual run of the mill greens like iceberg, romaine, etc.,
but would love some ideas as to what would make a great "salad greens"
garden.

Thanks very much,
Rachel.

Read the "ingredients " panel on your favorite commercial salad mix.
Most list the types of greens included in the mix. Then you can plant
those plus any others that stike your fancy. I find that if I plant
early, then follow with successive plantings, I can generally get
through most of the summer with fresh, baby greens in my zone 5
garden. After a brief break in the hottest days of summer, when pretty
much everything bolts, I start again and continue until it's just too
cold. When that is varies year to year. Sometimes I can get to
Thanskgiving. Last year we didn't make it past Halloween.


Romayne