Salad Days
The new box is hitting its stride, and I’ve been hard-pressed to keep up. In the mornings I’ve been pulling slugs off the leaves to feed to the chickens, then returning in a few hours for my own meal. I might get better growth if I thinned more aggressively and didn’t aspire to eat everything I trim out, but I have a reflexive resistance to tossing anything aside, seeking maximum use and minimum waste. This is a bigger problem with the mizuna, which I seeded the most densely, and with the aichi, which I can see wants more room to spread its leaves.
I’ve got shungiku on both ends, really more for decoration than for eating. The wasabina is looking awesome, and seems to be seeded at ideal density. I’m finding the shirahime hatsuka to be the perfect size — just a few bites, saving me from being overwhelmed at the prospect of consuming more radish than I can enjoy. The slugs have started tearing into the tops, but those don’t taste good anyway. The roots are an excellent way to clear the palate of oily foods. I really should sow some elsewhere in the garden.
The mizuna is coming in at varying speeds, with some plants racing out to maturity way faster than the rest. I should have probably left these alone for seed saving, but obviously it’s much more efficient to clip them for lunch compared to the smaller plants. Some of the plants have begun to flower, so I’ve also been harvesting those. Thus far I haven’t noticed any bitterness from them, a welcome discovery.
The Kyoto red occupies the least space and is getting crowded out by both its neighbors and itself. I haven’t touched them, since they’re not offering anything to eat yet, but soon I’ll have to thin them, I suppose. I had recently lost track of the garlic, but found three of them, and have been trying to provide them with more space. The aichi are getting devoured, but I think I may get some decent heads if I keep removing slugs and do a better job of thinning.
It takes maybe 20 minutes from when I hit the backyard to the moment I chow down, but I’ve been getting pretty good salads from my thinning efforts, and I expect that will go quicker as the plants get larger. The flavors are all pretty good, but it’s really the crunch that satisfies. I like to splash some dressing on, too, which maybe isn’t giving the plants their due, but I’ve always had a weakness for dressing. This new yuzu-flavored one has been a solid choice.
