What time is it???

Well, here's what I know: My garage door is working, I am running lots of miles outside and I'm overwhelmed with the urge to dig in the dirt, so despite what Puxsatawney Phil's opinion may be, in my world it is SPRING TIME!!


Plus the spinach popping up from last year is PROOF POSITIVE!! YEAH!!

So we started yesterday afternoon pulling up the dead stuff and cleaning out and hand-tilling the planting beds -- since there still be some cold weather to come, I'll just be planting those items this weekend that like it on the cooler side: lettuce, more spinach, onions, and radishes -- all of the instant gratification stuff!

So excited for spring salads! Growing lettuce, spinach and herbs is SO EASY and takes so little space. You can buy these big expensive grow kits for indoors, or you can just make a window box or use some old random pots to grow yourself an awesome assortment of spring mix, Bibb, simpson leaf and spinach and have enough to pick for a great salad in about two weeks! Since the leaf plants do prefer the colder weather, now is the perfect time to get those seeds in!

The other great thing about lettuces and spinach in containers is that you can keep them shaded or bring inside to control their temperature and prevent bolting, so you can have lovely fresh lettuce all summer and no ugly weeds!

Since the theme this week has been food subs, now's a good time to talk about what to put ON your beautiful home-grown lettuce -- NOT bottled Ranch, for sure!!

My favorites for dressing salad are the EVOO from the oil spritzer (gets all over your lettuce but uses WAY less) and red wine vinegar! If you decide to foray into the world of herbs when you start planting lettuce and spinach, know that basil is the best plant EVER for a balsamic vinaigrette, but it does like the hotter weather, so try starting your basil indoors for now and then plant more outside around Mother's Day, depending on temps.

Other great options for low-cal dressings are lemon juice/Dijon Mustard/tarragon with a little WildTree Bacon-flavored grapeseed oil -- WOW! This is especially good on spinach-dominated salads, cut up some hard-boiled egg whites, throw in some diced avocado and that's a power lunch straight from the gods!

Shoot me a message if you have questions about growing food -- it's the cheapest, easiest and most rewarding way to feed yourself and your family and takes a lot less work and/or space than you might think! Also fun for the kids! Happy Gardening!!