Growing Salad Vegetables

The group known as salad crops includes vegetables that are usually eaten raw with salt, pepper, vinegar, and salad oil, or with mayonnaise or other dressings. This classification is entirely one of convenience; some vegetables not included in this group are used in the same way. Some members of this class may be cooked and used as greens.

Lettuce, endive, celery, and parsley are the most popular salad vegetables. There are three types of lettuce: looseleaf, head or semi-head, and upright. Leaf lettuce grows quickly and is the easiest type of lettuce to grow. Endive is available in finely curled and broad-leaved varieties.

The broad-leaved variety is often called escarole. Celery is not usually grown in the home garden. It requires a long growing season, and it does not grow well in hot, dry summer weather. Parsley is used for garnishing and flavoring. A few plants will produce enough for the average family. The salad crops provide vitamins as well as needed bulk. They are usually eaten without cooking.

Proper soil preparation is very important for success with the salad crops. They have small root systems and are poor foragers, so there needs to be a good supply of nutrients in the surface soil. The soil should be well drained and moisture retentive.

Deeply plow or till the soil, then pulverize and smooth the surface. Incorporate well-rotted manure, other organic matter, compost, and a complete fertilizer such as a 10–10–10, at the rate of 2 pounds (1 kg) per 100 square ft. (10 sq m) into the soil before planting.

Plant cool-season greens as soon as you can work the ground. The sun will raise the temperature of the top quarter-inch of soil enough for the plants to sprout. A row cover will make things even better, sheltering the plants from shifts in temperature and moisture and also assisting with insect control. In the cooler days of early spring, use a heavier-weight row cover.

Be careful not to sow plants too close together or to overwater them; either act can cause rot. (So can frequent rain.) Be sure, too, to clear off all cut leaves. If left strewn about the bed, they can become the source of spreading rot.

In the midseason you should apply a side dressing of the same fertilizer at a rate of 1 pound (.5 kg) for each 25 ft. (8 m) of row. Do not use a combination of fertilizer and herbicide on vegetables. They contain weed killers that will kill vegetable plants.

The optimum pH range for salad crops is between 5.5 and 6.5. Liming will raise the pH of acid soils. Use a soil test to determine if any special fertilization or liming is required.

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