Home grown lettuce salad

Lettuce is truly one of the easiest crops to grow. I live in North Florida so I can grow lettuce from October until about the end on June. (Lettuce does not like heat and bugs eat everything in sight in the summer here.) I have 4x8 raised beds filled with home made compost. 

A quick composting lesson...

The most important lesson in gardening is that you must start with good dirt. When I lived in an apartment years ago, I used to grow vegetables in bags of store bought compost. Works like a charm but now I am older and wiser and know that you don't need to pay for good dirt, you can make it yourself! Most people throw enough stuff in the trash which ends up in the landfill to make good dirt! I learned to compost and here is how I do it.

In July when I cleaned out those beds, I piled up everything remaining in the beds and added yard waste, kitchen scraps and some composted cow patties and horse manure.  I put a plastic sheet over all through our rainy season and turned the heap regularly. Water, air and Florida heat produced black gold compost in a very short time. 

Now I am collecting yard waste in a separate heap to compost over the winter, It takes longer in the winter however by spring, I should have a nice additional heap of compost to jump start my spring vegetables. 

Back to the lettuce...

I removed leaves, pine straw and debris from the 2 raised beds. I shoveled and raked to brake up the clods of dirt. When I turned the dirt, I saw lots of worms indicating that the dirt was happy I knew it was time to plant. My current crops include...

• Purple Oak Leaf Lettuce - Pretty color, mild flavor)
  
• Arugula (My favorite!) Pleasant tart flavor
  
• Mizuna Tart like arugula, pretty  leaves 
  
• Mesclun mix - I like to find an organic one if I can
  

I mix each packet of seeds with 1 cup of sand and then scatter the sand-seed mixture on the soil. I used 1 packet of seeds for approximately 12 square feet. Then I covered up the seeds with a thin layer of fine peat moss and watered all. As the lettuce begins to grow I thin it and eat the tender young plants. Once you grow your own lettuce you will be spoiled and never want the super market variety again!

Salad

Many salads today contain too many ingredients and mask the flavor of good lettuce. 

Bottled salad dressing is a waste of money.

Use freshly picked, washed and dried greens. Add dressing right before serving and use dressing sparingly. The greens should glisten a bit, not be drowning or soggy.

Home made salad dressing

1 part vinegar or lemon juice - vinegar can be white or red wine, balsamic, rice wine, apple cider

3 parts great extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

Whisk together or shake in a small jar

Nice to add a few of these ingredients depending on you menu...

• Blue cheese - I like Gorgonzola or Maytag Blue, Crumble your own, it tastes better
  
• Lemon zest if you use lemon juice
  
• Dijon mustard, either smooth or the country seedy kind
  
• Honey
  
• Citrus fruit, orange or grapefruit sliced or jarred Mandarin oranges
  
• Avocado (I usually use lime juice and add sliced onions with avocado)
  
• Something crunchy like radishes, peppers or jimcana
  
• Edemane
  
• Fresh herbs, my favorites are thyme and basil, I love basil so much, I named my dog Basil (see photo above)
  
• Oven dried tomatoes - Put wedges of great fresh tomatoes in the oven on low heat 275 degrees for about 2 hours. They will be less juicy and the flavors will be more concentrated.
  
• Shaved hard cheese, my favorites are Parmesano Reggiano and Locatelli Romano, shave with a vegetable peeler over dressed salad so the pieces don't break up.
  
• Grated cheese. Riccota Salada is one of my new favorites.
  
• Sliced roasted beets - wash fresh beets, prick with fork, roast in glass container or foil until tender
  
• Young green beans or sugar snap peas steamed until tender crisp
  

Just make sure you don't add too many ingredients! Simple is better.