Sunday, October 11, 2009

Create a Salad Basket


At the nursery, I make quite a few salad baskets in the spring for customers looking to enjoy the benefits of growing their own salad, but with minimal space. I find, however, that salad baskets can be quite handy late in the season when the weather starts to become unpleasant. Easily portable, salad baskets can be moved to a location near the kitchen where they can decorate a porch or windowsill. They can even be brought inside at night when there is a heavy frost. To create your own salad basket you will need the following items:
A basket (thrift stores are a great source of these)
Organic potting soil
Plastic liner (several layers of a black trash bag will do)
An assortment of herbs & veggies.
A bit of green moss

Line your basket with plastic, trimming it to about 1/2" below the top of the basket and poke a few drainage holes in the bottom. Fill your basket with soil and plant. In the basket above I used some parsley, cilantro, Swiss chard, one 4 pk of asst lettuce and an ornamental pepper for fun. I love the way red color is carried throughout the basket in the peppers, lettuce and stems of the chard. I topped the soil with a bit of green moss to give a finished look and hold soil in until the plants are established. Simply add some ribbon and salad & herb baskets can make great inexpensive gifts for cooks and are simple to make. Total time planting the basket was about 20 minutes. The above basket was photographed about two weeks after planting and it's ready to enjoy. Keep moist, trim as needed and enjoy some fresh salad greens and herbs.

4 comments:

  1. Clever idea! Especially good as gifts. It's true... with proper planning, we really can eat homegrown greens late in the season. Thanks for sharing. Teresa

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  2. Gorgeous basket. I haul my lettuce in and out of the garage on a wagon in the fall. Either that or I cover it with a cloche or plastic box.

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  3. Hi Kat, this is a great and good looking basket planting!
    Almost too pretty to eat. :-)
    Frances

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  4. What a neat idea, Kat! Love that you can move it around when the weather gets too hot for the salad.

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