salads war

After two months we can feed ourselves on leaves every day. It was a battle, but we won.

Seeds planted at the beginning of April. That was a tough period as the kids were inspecting first soil filled pots and later new seedlings. Some died after being pulled out too many times. Also - the mess, you can imagine. Even though we have a large sill with a perfect south facing aspect at the peak point, it was not enough.

Plants were moved outside and replanted to "made by Florian boxes" in early May. This was the toughest time. Two slugs patrols at night weren't enough. Green flies attacks were suppressed by my special garlic infusion and hand squashed twice daily. Many of the plants died and we were sadly learning our lesson. As soon as they were established, there is not much need for any of that. Snails and slugs are collected every evening but that's it. (We are NOT killing them if you are concerned. They got free transport to the front of the house and into the ditch they go. Although I DO kill flies... By the way this great book advices to pour boiling water on them!)

There is quite a bit of diversity in the boxes. I was trying to mix them so that they all couldn't be eaten by a pest. There are more popular leaves with snails. They love round and sweet lettuces while they are avoiding mustard and rocket. I planted some garlic cloves to repel green flies and they surprisingly grow reaching about 15cm now. There are leeks here and there, red onions and one dwarf bean which is doing very poorly. All my swiss chards were killed by some magic. They got brown and then translucent spots after which I pulled them out. It is a tough game for tough people. I am telling you if your heart is weak do not get into gardening.

Lollo Rossa, All Year Round, Webbs Wonderful, Rocket, Another Rocket,  Red Mustard..

Lesson learned: you can have plenty of salads but you won't get a plant from each seed.  I didn't know that they can be so tasty either. Rocket doesn't resemble shop bought at all. The leaves are thicker and much bigger.
Now every two weeks I am seeding to trays about 10-14 different plants just to get a constant supply.
And I'll tell you all about the tomato war next time.