So while all my friend put in their gardens this weekend, I laughed. Then today I went and made a salad. In my garden I have Romaine lettuce, Leaf lettuce, Kale, Swiss Chard, Ruby Red Chard, and Spinach. Most of this is ready to pick. I dont wait for mine to get big and bushy like the store, instead I snip the larger ones and pick the outer leaves of those and let them continue to grow. With all the rain we've had my greens are really growing. Harvesting lettuce is a little different than the store because you have dirt to contend with. So first go out and if need be spray your greens with the hose lightly to help "wash" some of the dirt away. Then grab your larger leaves and I personally cut them with scissors.
If you are harvesting some chard or kale..snip only the leaves and leave the stems on the plant. My family doesnt like them and I hate cutting it twice. If you really want to recut then go ahead.
Next you want to get a large bowl and place your lettuce in it and fill it with cold water. Once the lettuce is covered, give a couple swishes and let it sit for a minute. This lets the dirt settle to the bottom of the bowl. Then gently pull the leaves out and tear them into tiny pieces and place into another container that you can fill up with water. I usually use this pan.
When the pieces are small it will help get the rest of the dirt off the leaves. Again fill up the pan/bowl over the lettuce and swish it a few times and let the dirt settle. Pull out the leaves gently and then place in a collandar to drain the rest of the water off the lettuce. You can toss it a few times if you like. I let this sit while I chop the rest of my veggies.
This salad had romaine, leaf, kale, and swiss chard as greens. I also put some radishes in because there were a few more done. I had some celery and carrots in the fridge from the store. I added them in too. It was a very delicious salad. I'm so excited to be eating fresh greens while everyone else is just planting.
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