Fast food from the home garden

We live in a fast-food world where many meals come to us in a box through our driver’s side window or at restaurants where we only have to wait a few minutes to be served and fed.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could slow down and eat fresh food from our gardens? Wait, you say, that whole “grow your own food” thing takes too much time. But does it? Growing fresh food in your garden really doesn’t take that long. It is truly amazing that we can throw seeds in the ground and have our first harvest a few weeks later.

Lettuce, radishes, beets, arugula and summer squash are examples of quick-growing veggies in the garden. A piece of ground, a raised bed, or a container combined with seeds, sunshine and water will have you well on your way to growing “real” fast food.

Whether you pick fresh lettuce to top the burger you bought on your way home, or fresh arugula to lavish on top of the made-to-order pizza that is about to be delivered, these fresh vegetables are full of vitamins and antioxidants because you picked them yourself when you were ready for it. Almost anyone can grow something wholesome and nutritious in short order — and with successive seeding, you can actually keep the harvests coming all the time. You should consider this to be a good investment in your health.

Here is what I’m talking about: On the back of seed packets it tells you when to plant, where to plant, planting depth of seed, spacing, days to germination or when you can expect your seedling to pop up and days to harvest, which is key. Look for veggies that will mature in a month, give or take a few days. I always buy my seeds at Mitchell’s Hardware where they will give you a great chart with all of this information on it.

Most seed packets of salad mixes can be harvested in 28 to 35 days, which means that you can actually start harvesting micro-greens (baby salad) in just a couple of weeks. Carefully trim with the leaves at the base of the young plants with scissors — they will grow again and give you more salad.

Radish seeds are usually 23 to 35 days to harvest — a short time for fresh food. Dip radish bulbs or roots in cream cheese or peanut butter, or add them to salads and sandwiches.

Beets are easy to grow, and some early varieties are in the 30-day harvest range, although beets do better as a fall crop here. Plant seeds close together, and enjoy beet greens as you thin them with scissors about three weeks after planting.

Summer squash consistently amazes me with the speed at which it grows. If the weather is warm and water is sufficient, I sometimes have small squash to eat within 30 days of planting.

Don’t plant large quantities of any of these vegetables at any one time. Sow a small amount of seeds every couple of weeks so the yield continues in a quantity that you and your family can harvest and eat.

As long as you have a little space with sunshine, you can supplement your family’s groceries with fast food you grow yourself — no matter where you live.



Judi Lloyd lives in River Bend and can be contacted at judilloyd@yahoo.com.
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