Review ('08) Lettuce, Turnips, Chard

The lettuce was a mix from Baker Creek. “European Mix” an heirloom mix of greens and lettuces. The other plants were given to us by my friend Steve. These were our earliest harvested crops.

Lettuce (1 bed, many plants) We sprinkled the seeds on the top of the small bed just on the other side of the waddle fence we built. It was a mix, so lots of different things came up, including arugula (also known as “rocket”, in case you think our lettuce bed is getting elitist). It made lots of salad greens for us, varied and interesting. Since I didn't plant it in rows, though, it was hard to tell which plants were lettuces until they'd gotten bigger. There are lots of weeds that look like salad greens, yep. Next year, we'll plant our salad crop in rows, so we can pull weeds sooner.

Turnips (4 or 5) The leaves were not as pretty, and I've never really cared for turnips, but once we were growing them, something in me changed. Suddenly, I loved the turnip so much. Alan did too. We ate the whole thing, leaves and root. The turnip inspired me to cook. It made Alan cry. I am not sure why, something about the joy of growing things, I think. He is emotional like that.

Chard (4-5) The chard just kept going and going. We STILL have chard out there, under some leaf mulch. It's amazing. At first, I was a little creeped out by it, because some bug loved it and I was prissy about eating stuff that something else already ate. (It was an early crop... I got used to sharing by the time the corn came in!) It was good, though, and made me feel like I was eating something healthy because it cooks up a dark green. I made the mistake of cutting out the stems, which are apparently edible and very delicious.