Rocket Salad

My Rocket Salad growing in a small container on my patio.

Rocket Apollo is a fast growing salad rocket with large, rounded, tender leaves, and an excellent peppery taste. Rocket Salad is best harvested as young leaves or as “cut and come again” salads.
Easy to grow in containers or flower boxes and can be ready to harvest in 25 days.

The interesting flavor of this Arugula will add spunk to any boring salad. It is spicy, so I add it to milder salad mixes. Roquette Arugula is most often eaten raw in salads but can also be steamed or added raw to many other dishes, and is even good on pizza with goat cheese!

Arugula, when mature, grow to 2 to 3 feet tall, but the leaves are tastiest and less bitter when harvested 2 to 6 inches long. The flowers are white and are also edible. Plant in early spring, 3 to 4 weeks before the last average frost date and plant successive plantings therafter every 3 weeks until first fall frost approaches. Rocket Salad Arugula prefers light, fertile, moist, and well drained soil. In warmer climates, delay planting during the heat of the summer, or keeping containers in a partly shady area during hot summer days has worked for me.

My favorite summer salad combo:

2 tbls olive oil
2 tbls balsamic vinegar
1 tsp grainy mustard
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
4-5 cups baby arugula leaves (or any spicy rocket salad)
cubed roasted beets (about 3 medium)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Feta or Goat cheese

Whisk together the olive oil, mustard and balsamic vinegar in a large bowl. Toss salad ingredients to lightly coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving. When available I also add roasted red peppers, spicy sliced Calamata olives, or sliced radish.

We bought some canned, pickled green tomatoes last week at the Farmer’s Market. They were super expensive, so much that I am embarrassed to say! So, this year I am going to attempt canning. Our family pickled tons of vegetables when I was growing up in Michigan, so I assume that my mom has a nice recipe that I can borrow! My favorite pickled vegetable is pickled green beans.

Pickled Green tomatoes

This jar is half full of course! Pickled vegetables are so yummy. You can make them as sweet, sour, garlicky, spicy as you want depending on your tastes!

*Important notes about canning and pickling vegetables:

The acidity of pickled products is important because it helps prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum. Only recipes with tested proportions of ingredients should be used in pickling. Only use vinegar (cider or white) having an acidity of 4 to 6% (40 to 60 grains). This is the range of acidity for most commercial vinegars. “Pickling” or “canning” salt, Sea salt and Kosher salt can be used. Iodized salt can darken pickles, and table salt contains anti-caking agents that can make the brine cloudy.

Pickled Green Beans
2 pounds fresh green beans, rinsed and trimmed
8 cloves garlic, peeled
12 sprigs fresh dill weed
4 teaspoons sea salt or Kosher salt
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
2 1/2 cups distilled water
Red pepper flakes (to taste)

Cut green beans to fit inside pint sized canning jars. Canning jars and lids can be found at your local hardware store.
Steam green beans over 1 inch of boiling water, and cover. Cook until slightly tender but still firm, for about 3 minutes. Place beans in ice water, drain well.
Pack the beans into four hot, sterilized pint jars. Place 2 clove garlic and 4 sprigs dill weed into each jar. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, and red pepper (optional) to each jar.
In a large saucepan over high heat, bring vinegar and water to a boil. Pour over beans.
Fit the jars with lids and rings and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

This is a recipe that I have adapted and have used in the past. I will have my mom send me the “official” family recipe asap!

Greens

Mustard greens

My greens have also been growing quickly. I have used all of my micro-greens so I need to purchase new seeds! Mustard greens have a spicy kick and can be mixed with other salad greens.

Mustard Greens for salad or cooking:

Mustad Greens

My mustard greens have grown full size in about a month. I forgot to water my mustard greens for a couple of days, and they wilted. Since they are growing in containers, they dry out quickly. After giving them a good watering, they perked up by the end of the day. Mustard greens can be cooked or eaten raw. I like to add mustard greens to salad mix to spice it up!

My tomato plants in patio containers have been growing well so far! I have been keeping them watered, and the hot sunshine is shaded by the house by around 2pm. My Early Girls have already bloomed fruit, and my Purple Cherokee has also bloomed. I am recycling water back into my plants that has collected in the drainage pans. I read somewhere that this water has nutrients that have drained through the soil.

Since our tomato plants aren’t actually fruiting yet, we recently purchased some lovely tomatoes at the farmer’s market. I remembered this recipe for oven dried tomatoes that my friend Jeri gave to me.

Prepare these in advance, even days ahead, but be sure to serve them at room temperature, on a salad or just eat them! Slow roasting or sun drying tomatoes brings out the sugary sweetness.

So easy:
TIME: 3 hours

a dozen vine-ripened tomatoes, cut in half horizontally
2 tablespoons olive oil
Preheat the oven to 275ºF.

In a small roasting pan, toss the tomatoes with the olive oil. Roast the tomatoes, seed-side up, for three hours.

Tomato plants growing in containers

May in California: I have had to water my tomatoes about every other day depending on how hot it is outside. I water until there is about an inch overflow into plastic tray under the pot. I also use a watering can, not the hose. Keeping the hose on during watering wastes water!

Eggplants grow well in larger containers, and small garden plots. Keep them in a sunny place and water often. We use eggplant to make baba ganoush, use it in spagetti sauce and layered in lasagna. Don’t wait until eggplants get too big to pick them though, eggplants that go too long can be seedy and kind of bitter. Roasted eggplant is the best. Yum.

Baba Ganoush

1 1/2 lb Eggplant or 2-3 medium sized eggplants.
3 tbls Lemon juice
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Minced fresh garlic (I lower the garlic amount because it hurts my belly)
2 tbls Sesame tahini
2 tbls yogurt or sour cream
1/8 c Chopped fresh parsley
1/4 c Toasted pine nuts (optional)
2 tbls Olive oil to drizzle over the top.

Preheat oven or grill to 400 degrees F. Prick eggplant all over with a fork. Cut the eggplant in halves (the long way) Bake or grill flesh side down, until tender (about 30 minutes). Remove from oven or grill and carefully scoop out the flesh. Blend in a food processor with the lemon juice to consistency preference (I like small chunks of eggplant). Mash the salt and garlic together and blend into the eggplant, along with the tahini and yogurt. Cool and stir in the parsley and chopped pine nuts (optional). Before serving, drizzle with the olive oil, and sprinkle with paprika. Best served in a shallow dish in my opinion.
Serve as a dip with baked triangles of flat (pita) bread.

I just found out about micro greens recently at a local farmer’s market. They were expensive (an small) so I figured I could grow them myself. Yep…they are pretty easy, with a quick reward! Micro Greens can be used as a garnish, in salads, sandwiches, on crackers. They are pretty cute too. Micro Greens is a term used for both individual varieties of “greens” and for mixes of vegetable varieties grown to a height of 1″ to 2″. Use Micro Greens anywhere you might use greens or sprouts.

Micro Greens can be a tasty and nutritious addition to your recession garden. They take little space, and I have some tips an maximizing your crop. Micro Greens can be grown any time of the year, even inside in the winter. Sow seeds and harvest them when the pants are 1″ to 2″ high. I recently bought a spicy mix for .99 that contains: Sawtooth mustard, peppergrass cress, cabbage red acre, mustard red giant, and Radish. Plant outside in the spring, summer or fall.

Micro Greens take about 5-10 days to emerge. Restaurants grow Micro Greens in flats for continual supply year round. Micro Greens have been so successful and popular at my house that I am going to plant new seeds about every two weeks.

Micro Greens ten days after planting. Ready for harvest!

My first crop grew quickly in flower boxes on my balcony. I am in Zone 10, so the weather ranges from 50-80F in April. I am using even less space for my next crop. I am growing my Micro Greens in recycled clear strawberry containers that make excellent “green houses”.

Micro Greens before germination.

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Tomato plants have one of two growth patterns. Determinate (bush) varieties grow to a certain height (usually 2-3 ft), set fruit, and then work on ripening that fruit.  Usually determinate tomatoes are early producing plants.  Indeterminate (vine) varieties keep growing, producing fruit until they’re killed by frost.  I prefer Indeterminate varieties because I am a greedy gardener, and I like to have a crop over a long season.  

If you have an extremely limited amount of growing space or a super short growing season, you might want to select a determinate (bush) variety.   Determinate varieties are also good for cold climate gardeners who need to harvest their whole crop within a couple weeks.  If you have the space, prefer to pick your tomatoes throughout the season, and are prepared to provide sturdy support with stakes or cages, select an indeterminate variety.  Indeterminate plants can grow up to 6′-10′, so plan for their greatness!

Tomato plants also can easily be grown as a hanging or upside down plant.  Gwowing upside down eliminates the need for support, keeps the fruit in the air, and allows  sunlight to reach throughout the plant.    ”Upside down” tomato growing pots, and hanging pots are easily made out of hanging pots.  Or, you can purchase one for about $19-24.  I’ll post an example soon.

Check your seed packets or nursery plant instructions to find out if you have determinate or indeterminate tomato plants!

Most tomato varieties are  indeterminate including most heirlooms and most cherry types.  Other indeterminate tomatoes include Beefsteak, Big Boy and Brandywine. Early producing varieties like, Celebrity and Early Girl, are also indeterminate. However since they tend to produce fruit ealier and die back before the end of the season, they are sometimes labeled semi-determinate.

Pruning “suckers” on Indeterminate plants:

Prune the "sucker" leaves that grow between the main vine and offshoots.

What are those codes on the seed packet?  VFTA
Being aware of disease resistance is important when growing tomatoes, because tomatoes are vulnerable to diseases that can wilt, weaken, spread, and reduce yields.  Look at the nursery description, seed packet or plant label to see if that variety has resistance to verticillium and fusarium wilt,  common soil-borne diseases that affect tomatoes.  Resistance is designated by a V or F on the description or plant name. If tomatoes in your region suffer from root-knot nematode (N), Tobacco Mosaic virus (T) or Alternaria (A), look for resistance to these diseases as well.

Example:  ’Sun Gold’ Cherry Tomato- Indeterminate (VFNT)  57-65 days

Many people that I have spoken with in urban areas are under the impression that they can only grow herbs in a kitchen window!  You don’t need a large plot of land to grow fresh vegetables. I have grown many vegetables in containers.  We also have made some space for planting in the ground, but I’ll get to that later.  With a little extra care, many vegetables thrive in containers located in a sunny spot on a step, porch, window box, etc.  I’ll provide some ideas in selecting bush or dwarf veggie varieties, but almost any vegetable can be adapted to growing in a pot. Lettuce, root veggies, or crops that bear fruits over a long period of time, such as tomatoes and sweet or hot peppers, are perfect for container vegetable gardens.

Containers and Pots for Vegetable Gardens

Selecting Containers: Containers for your vegetable gardens can be almost anything: flower pots, pails, buckets, wire baskets, bushel baskets, wooden boxes, nursery flats, window planters, washtubs,  large food cans.  I recently visited a nursery here in California that was willing to get rid of plastic planters that trees and bushes arrived in.  These are perfect because they are large enough, and have drainage. 

Drainage: Any container that you choose should have holes at the base or in the bottom to permit drainage of excess water.   If you place containers on your wooden deck, you should raise them on a brick or something similar so that you don’t get permanent “ring stains” on your deck…If you care about that.   Some gardeners swear by using only terra cotta planters however can be expensive.    If you are using plastic or terra cotta containers, I suggest watering in the morning hours to give the soil a chance to dry out before the evening.  Otherwise, you may get moldy roots, or other plant diseases that we will discuss in another post.

Size: Container size is important. For larger vegetables like tomatoes and eggplants, you should use a five gallon container for each plant.  If you plant in containers that are too small, you run the risk of the roots getting too big for the planter, and your plant will need to be repotted.   Replanting a 3’-4’ tomato plant would really be difficult!  

Soil and Fertilizer

You can use soil in your container vegetable garden, but the synthetic mixes are much better. Peat-based mixes, containing peat and vermiculite, are excellent. They are relatively sterile and pH adjusted. They also allow the plants to get enough air and water.  I mix one-part mushroom compost to two parts planting mix will improve fertility.

Using a slow release or complete organic fertilizer at planting will keep your vegetables fed for the whole growing season.  My favorite is “Tomato Tone”.    It is organic, and has worked for me every year.

 The tomatoes above are from the 2008 season, so here is a picture of our newest addition. Heirloom varieties on our porch.  Notice, one plant per pot!  The first year I started container gardening, I placed two plants in a pot.  Trust me, they grow very large!   If you place more than one plant per pot, they will become root bound, and die early…Which is disappointing!  Take the time to mix compost, add fertilizer, and use extra pots if needed.  It will pay off in July/August when you will have the biggest tomato booty on the block!   Also, remember that if you plant more than four or five plants, you will be sharing tomatoes with your family and friends.   Be mindful of what you will realistically use or donate.  Rotten tomatoes are a pain to clean from the deck, and can attract rodents.