Salad Days - April

It's autumn and though the tomatoes are finishing up, there's still plenty to forage up for an interesting salad. (I posted here about the tough Juliet tomato plant - it's still hanging in there!) Luckily green tomatoes continue to ripen if you bring them inside.

This pot of mixed lettuces is almost finished. I have another pot growing on in the glasshouse which will be ready to switch out soon.

Grow, my darlings, grow.

For the coldest days of winter, I have sorrel. This is one tough little plant - even frost won't knock it back. It has a delicious lemony tang which livens up any sandwich.

A yummy mixed salad of lettuces, sorrel, rocket, tomatoes and feta cheese.

This post is part of the 52 week Salad Challenge hosted at Veg Plotting. Once a month everyone posts to show how they are getting on producing salads from their garden. Here's this month's post. I missed last month's due to my internet problems but now I'm back... and I'm aiming not to miss any more!

Salad greens for summer

 I recently came across the 52 Week Salad Challenge, and since my aim when I started the potager was to keep it stocked with edibles all through the year, I decided to join in. I'm not a huge salad eater but I do love having fresh crunchy lettuce in my sandwich each day. Also, if the veges are just sitting there in the garden waiting to be eaten, I'm more likely to try and find something to do with them - particularly if there is feta cheese in the fridge!

 My potager has four quarter-circle beds in the middle, and these tend to be my salad beds. Each one has an upright rosemary in the middle and is edged with chives and carrots, with any other gaps filled with spring onions and lettuces (Freckles and Red Flame). The lettuces are growing well, it's been a cool summer which they seem to have enjoyed, although it did take them a while to get up to size. I've got a few spring onions left but the seeds I sowed a couple of months ago have been very slow to grow.

While I was waiting for the lettuces to fill out I sowed a row of rocket which has been true to its name. I'm not in the school of people who find rocket peppery, it's more... nutty? Earthy? Either way, I love the depth of flavour it brings to a humble pile of green leaves!

My favourite summer salad:

Mixed greens torn into bite size pieces, including Freckles lettuce, Red Flame lettuce, rocket, and basil

Sliced spring onions

Quartered cherry tomatoes

Finely chopped red chilli (flesh only, no mouth-blistering seeds for me thanks)

Crumbled feta cheese

Dressing:

Juice of a lemon

Slosh of oil

Salt, pepper and about half a teaspoon of honey

1-2 tablespoons plain yoghurt

Whisk together till combined.

If you want to join the 52 Week Salad Challenge, see this post for more info.