Salad Bowl

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Want an easy project that keeps on giving? How about a salad bowl garden. I saw a very nice example of this easy garden the other day sitting next to my neighbor's front door.

Last October Connie re-purposed a succulent clay pot into a perpetual salad bowl. She
likes mesclun salad greens but not the price. So for a small amount of time and a couple packets of seeds, she created a miniature habitat for growing these garden beauties. Her round clay pot measures about 10 inches across and 4 inches deep. She cleaned her pot and added a mixture of half potting soil and half compost. Fortunately she has a husband who is an active composter, so there is a good supply at hand. She dusted the seeds across the surface and pressed them gently into the soil and misted the surface. She then placed an inverted clear plastic pot liner across the top of the pot to keep the birds out and
to help maintain moisture and heat for the sprouting seeds. She placed her pot in a sunny place in her backyard and since it was still pretty warm in October she checked the moisture level frequently and misted the surface as needed. Within 10 days she was rewarded with tiny shoots of lettuce. When she harvests the lettuce she leaves a couple of inches of growth and the individual plants soon send up new shoots. She reseeded this pot mid-December by gently dimpling the surface with a chopstick and dusting in more seeds. She also moved her pot to the front garden for better sun exposure during the winter. Connie's effort has been rewarded with a nice supply of gourmet greens. The latest Baker Creek Heirloom Seed catalog (http://rareseeds.com/), Renee's Garden (http://reneesgarden.com/) and Peaceful Valley Farm (http://www.groworganic.com/)have a variety of lettuces and greens seeds available for about $3 a packet. Enjoy.

Salad in a bowl. (photo by Trisha Rose)