Announcing The 52 Week Salad Challenge


This post proves procrastination can pay because it was borne out of idle pondering instead of writing my Christmas cards on Sunday. My thinking went thus:

I really should grow more of what we like to eat.

What do we eat all the time?

Salads. At least 4 days a week, that's what...

...and they're really expensive at this time of the year...

Why don't I grow more of them then?

a) Because I'm pants at successional sowing - I get to our summer holiday and never get going again

b) I'm not really making the best use of the resources I have - cold frames, cloches, windowsill growing kit, sprouting kit - what a waste!

c) I'm not making the best use of the techniques I know about either - forcing/blanching, microgreens, cut and come again, sprouting - why's that?

I wonder if I can grow salad leaves year round?

I'm bound to fail going by my past record :(

So I then tweeted the fateful tweet:

@Malvernmeet we eat salad at least 4x a week. I'm contemplating a 52 week salad growing challenge for the blog next year. Is it a goer?

An excited flurry of tweets ensued, which confirmed it is indeed a goer. So consider this my formal announcement, throwing down the gauntlet, girding up my loins for the travails ahead etc etc. Forget the Olympics, we gardeners need a challenge requiring much more stamina and staying power. Will you join me in the New Year for The 52 Week Salad Challenge?

I'll outline the details in my first post on the first Friday of the month i.e. January 6th.

See you there?

Comments

  1. Emma20 December 2011 at 09:06

    Sounds like fun :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carl Legge20 December 2011 at 09:14

    Great idea, I'm in too. And it'll provide some great opportunity for foraged goods as well. Bring it on :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gwenfar's Garden20 December 2011 at 11:52

    Love the idea. Just occurred to me, would be interesting to see how different people from different parts of the country go with the challenge...

    Do we need to eat salad every day, or have enough to eat a couple of times a week, over 52 weeks?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Maggie Christie20 December 2011 at 12:00

    I'd like to join in too. I have a shiny new polytunnel and a copy of Salad Leaves for All Seasons by Charles Dowding so I'm ready to go!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lisa20 December 2011 at 12:35

    Ah I was just going to recommend "salad leaves for all seasons" and I see somebody else got there first :) I don't fancy my chances but I might join in a bit - can I modify it, so that I have to have something that is possible to eat every month?

    ReplyDelete
  6. petoskystone20 December 2011 at 14:21

    ...sounds intriguing...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anna20 December 2011 at 16:34

    Oh what fun VP - count me in but I will probably not last the course, says she reaching in the direction of the bookshelf :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sara V20 December 2011 at 17:05

    Hoooray! As Imndsaid on Twitter definitely count me in-the challenge is on:)))

    ReplyDelete
  9. Diana Studer20 December 2011 at 18:27

    will observe hopefully and collect ideas. My red sorrel has become the sole non-survivor of my salad garden. Nasturtiums and garlic chives are good for most of the year. You battle winter, mine just shrizzles away when the summer sun fires his death rays.

    ReplyDelete
  10. easygardener20 December 2011 at 18:34

    Will there be a minimum number of leaves per week? - given my erratic successional sowing I may find the exercise a struggle during winter :-)
    I agree about the summer holiday - it throws my timing all out too!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jono / Real Men Sow20 December 2011 at 19:10

    Sounds great, I'm in.

    Have you ever tried any of the oriental winter salads? Mibuna, serifon and green in snow are really tasty and very hardy.

    Only the snow has killed them off for me in the past, but if they were undercover...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kath21 December 2011 at 02:56

    What a great idea! I wish I could participate, but I right in the middle of renovating my veggie beds. Still I bet I learn alot!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Jan21 December 2011 at 09:30

    Hi! I caught your challenge over on OrkneyFlowers latest post, so here I am! I'd love to do something like this, I moved house in August 2010, and am just about able to start paying proper attention to actually, you know, *growing* stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Zoë21 December 2011 at 15:27

    count me in! Love salads too.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Jane Perrone, Horticultural blog21 December 2011 at 16:29

    Yep, I'm in. Already doing it in fact: http://perrone.blogs.com/horticultural/2011/12/winter-salads-for-free.html

    The only thing you didn't mention that I am doing is eating a lot of foraged stuff - violet leaves and hairy bittercress are particularly good at the moment ....

    ReplyDelete
  16. Naomi Slade21 December 2011 at 16:58

    I've already got started too. Had a few leaves of wild rocket (grown in pot by back door) to jazz up the lettuce last night and I started some beetroot, rocket, spinach and parsley seedlings in a heated propagator in late Nov/early Dec - now quite happy in unheated cloche outside...planted turnips in sept (bit slow off the mark)you know what, i should blog this myself.... Will get something up soon!

    ReplyDelete
  17. VP21 December 2011 at 17:26

    Emma - I hope so :)

    Carl - welcome! Great point re foraging - it's on the To Do and blog about lists. It'll be great to benefit from your knowledge, expertise and recipes :)

    Gwenfar - good point I must plot where everyone is to see how we're doing with geographic coverage. I read somewhere that day length is crucial for growing salads - 10 hours was mentioned, so this needs some further investigation re its validity and perhaps showing how to work out the growing period available...

    ... and no, you don't have to eat salad every day...

    PM - I don't have a polytunnel or greenhouse, so it would be great to have your experience of how much your polytunnel extends your growing period :)

    Lisa - I'm aiming not to be too prescriptive, especially as people have completely different resources, experience, preferences etc etc. The idea is for you to set the challenge for yourself over the 52 weeks - it would be great if you joined in!

    Petoskystone - good!

    Anna - I've set this up partly because I'm not expecting to last the course going by my track record. I'm hoping we'll help each other out in times of difficulty. If you grow something different or manage to extend your growing period, then I'll judge this challenge to be a success.

    Sara V - hurray!

    EE - of course the weather has an enormous part to play. Last year's winter would have stopped this challenge in its tracks if we were doing it then. Hope you find something new and interesting to try :)

    EG - no there won't be a minimum number of leaves per week. Hopefully by posting weekly it'll remind us all about sowing stuff and get us over that summer holiday hump!

    Jono - great! I've only tried Mibuna, so I'll add your other 2 suggestions to my must try list :)

    Kath - no problem! I'm sure you'll be able to pick things up when your veggie beds are ready. Would be great to get some perspectives from across the pond. I'm planning to use some images from when I visited a farmers' market in Seattle for at least one post, so stay tuned :)

    Jan - welcome! And great to have you on board - I'm counting on you for asking loads of questions we've forgotten need asking, so I can add them to the FAQs :)

    Zoe - yay! I seem to remember you sowing loads of different salad leaves previously...

    Jane - good to see you've been quietly getting on with it. I'll add your post to the first Mr Linky when it goes up, but in the meantime if anyone wants to read Jane's fab post, here's the direct link to it

    Naomi - fantastic - looking forward to reading your post :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Tim Sellin21 December 2011 at 20:07

    This would be a great addition to the many gardens we install... you got me thinking!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Esther Montgomery21 December 2011 at 21:31

    Nope. Couldn't do it. If I liked raw chard I could be eating some of its leaves now but after that . . . nice idea . . . wish I liked salad more than I do. Wouldn't it be brilliant if one could grow STRAWBERRIES all year round. That would be the thing . . . Could do with a bit of magic.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Gail21 December 2011 at 22:30

    I'm in....xxoogail

    ReplyDelete
  21. VP22 December 2011 at 08:56

    Tim - think away!

    Esther - I'd love year round strawberries too! But then I wonder if their deliciousness would wear off after a while...

    Gail - hurray! x

    ReplyDelete
  22. Mindy22 December 2011 at 16:47

    How fun! I'll be slow to start since here in Iowa USA, I only have redbor and curly blue kale to start but it makes for great Zuppa Toscana. This is the first time I've done something like this so is there a method to the madness? I have a blog: http://hoofprintsandpetals.blogspot.com but as you can see life gives me little time to post. How do I link to you or do I need to do that? Forgive the questions :). I've been wanting to do my own four season sustainability so this is the perfect start! ~Mindy

    ReplyDelete
  23. BrittanyGirl22 December 2011 at 17:59

    Sounds great to me here in Brittany. I'm definitely in, although I have not been a good succession sower up to now. I will endeavour to pay attention and this challenge should keep reminding me. Sandra
    http://livingin22.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  24. The Constant Gardener2 January 2012 at 16:11

    Just realised I haven't officially thrown my hat into the ring :D

    consider it thrown (it's the battered brown one with the muddy rim)

    looking forward to this - it'll be a good one!

    ReplyDelete
  25. VP4 January 2012 at 20:15

    Mindy - hi and Welcome. I've tried to come over to you to answer your questions, but I can't access your profile. I hope you'll come back and see your answer here. I'm explaining how everything will work in my post this Friday. You can work things out over at your blog if you want, or simply leave a Comment about how you're getting on in the monthly get together Salad Days we'll be having. The first of these will be on January 27th. It'll be great to have your perspective from over the pond - I'm not familiar with the varieties you've mentioned, so you have lots to teach me too :)

    Brittanygirl - hello and welcome! It'll be great to have you joining in. It looks like we'll have a great geographical spread and therefore lots of different experiences to share :)

    TCG - fab. We can crack successional sowing together :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Galen5 January 2012 at 03:42

    I love this idea. Here in the Northwest we can grow many salad greens year round without protection. Planting these winter hardy greens has allowed my family to refrain from purchasing lettuce or greens since last June. I have been thoroughly impressed with how productive non lettuce salad greens can be.

    ReplyDelete
  27. VP5 January 2012 at 23:04

    Galen - welcome! That's great to know - just the encouragement we need :)

    I saw some fab salad mixes on sale at a farmers' market in Seattle last summer.

    ReplyDelete
  28. yolandaelizabet6 January 2012 at 09:07

    Hi Michelle,

    I'm in coz I'm already doing it. Last Autumn I decided to grow veg all year round and so far it has been a succes (it's been a rather mild winter so far). I love salads so I eat a lot of those per week and my chooks are very keen on them too so there's a lot of leaf munching going on at Bliss.

    XX Yolanda

    ReplyDelete
  29. VP7 January 2012 at 09:37

    Hi Yolanda - fantastic! Always glad to have you joining in :)

    I wish I'd started last Autumn. Still, by starting at the most difficult time of the year, things will get easier!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Karen - An Artist's Garden7 January 2012 at 12:35

    Hummm - I wonder if I could persuade Shedman to join in .....
    (wonders off to e-mail him a link your blog ...)

    ReplyDelete
  31. thegreedygardener9 January 2012 at 09:12

    Fantastic idea. Like you my successional sowing isn't always as well planned as I'd like. I've managed to harvest rocket or CCA most weeks for the past six months but keeping it up every week is going to be a challenge. Does a winter slaw count as a salad?!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Kelli9 January 2012 at 14:10

    How did I miss this post?? From the Seattle area and I'm definitely in!

    ReplyDelete
  33. VP11 January 2012 at 20:15

    Hurray - the more the merrier!

    x

    ReplyDelete
  34. Unknown17 January 2012 at 19:48

    we have salad, parsley, lovely dark red beet tops here at common farm flowers (www.commonfarmflowers.com) - i have antique pea seed planted in the kitchen for pea shoots (if any of them shoot) and there's always the self seeded winter purslane which invades the raised beds in the flower garden and makes marvellous green manure when i've had enough of it. great idea this 52 week salad challenge. munch, crunch. love from georgiexxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP22 January 2012 at 16:12

      Great to have you joining in Georgie :) My pea shoots are just beginning to perk up no end - first harvest due soon...

      Delete
  35. JulieAnn22 January 2012 at 13:27

    Hello - we will be taking up your challenge here in the Chicago, Illinois area of the US. Although we have a bit of a delayed start, I am already dreaming of salads. Hubby gave me my first grow light for Christmas so I am half way there.

    Another thing I've been researching recently is the idea of foraging. We are in the suburbs but even in the urban areas there are many native herbs and greens that grow in the forest preserves (where chemical spraying is not allowed) and even along alleys and public walkways. I can't wait for spring!

    I am looking forward to the creativity that will no doubt come as we experiment with different greens, fruit/nut/seed additions and even the use of various vingears and oils in dressings.

    Wonderful idea!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP22 January 2012 at 16:15

      Hi JulieAnn and welcome! Good to have someone else joining in from over the pond. There's a link on the Challenge's Page to a blogger in Idaho who's put together a comprehensive list of USA based resources as well as showing winter salad and leaf is possible in zone 5B.

      Lots of us are foraging over here too - it'll be good to compare notes :)

      Delete
  36. Hilary Bravo27 January 2012 at 11:30

    Only just discovered this brilliant idea. Yes - I'm in!

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more