Golden Gate Garden

Here is a photo of a mix of greens for fall and winter gardens in San Francisco and nearby gardens that are being grown as a mesclun. I guess these are really both reds and greens–it’s a mix of looseleaf lettuces, arugula, (spiky) mizuna, (spoon-leaved) tatsai, and red mustard. All of these greens are good choices for individual as well as mixed plantings. I started some in late September, but they might work sown now. If they struggle in the cold, try again in early February.

This patch has been sown together for cut-and-come-again harvesting. You cut the plants an inch or two from their bases, and more leaves grow from the stub. You can usually cut them 2 or 3 times before they refuse to regrow. If you have a lot of weeds, it is best to grow mesclun in a container, in container mix, which is weed-free. This prevents accidental eating of inedible weeds that came up between your mesclun greens.

On next Saturday, November 17th I’ll be lecturing about year-round food gardening at Ploughshares Nursery in Alameda. See previous post for details.