Fast growing radishes (back) and arugula (the single row in front) make perfect crops for impatient gardeners.
Just two Sunday’s ago I sowed my first planting of radishes. Today they’re ready to be thinned, the spicy seedlings making a delicious addition to tonight’s salad. Fourteen days from planting to harvest; can’t ask for a faster growing season than that.
It’s one of the reasons I love growing radishes and arugula, both of which are fast, vigorous and reliable. Arugula especially is a crazy thing to buy in the store, where supermarkets charge yuppy prices for a plant that is essentially a weed. The row of arugula in the foreground of the photo above was planted only last week. Next week I’ll enjoy my first thinning, and as long as I keep planting fresh sowings every couple weeks, I’ll be flush with arugula until the summer heat gets too intense. Then I’ll start sowing again in September, and enjoy frequent harvests until the first hard freeze.
Tomatoes take commitment, and they are of course the pride of my backyard garden. But radishes and arugula provide a sense of immediate gratification that makes the wait for the summer bounty more bearable.
In the 1700s, 99% of us were subsistence farmers. In the 21st century, 99% of us will have to garden for subsistence again. There goes 400 years of economic progress down the drain thanks to greedy banksters and CEOs.
I notice farmland is coming back into vogue with flippers. Maybe Goldy will be able to sell his pea patch for a million bucks.
The other name for it is rocket. I like rocket, it’s less snooty sounding. Garden purslane is another great half/wild veg to plant. Once it goes to seed you’ve got it forever. Purslane is really delicious and prolific.
Also, go out and pick stinging nettles now. Wear gloves and snip the tops into a grocery bag then and wash them with tongs in the sink and then steam them down. You could kick Popeye’s ass after a bowl of nettles!
It’s Gardening with the Geezer. :)
stumphaven @3… How do you prepare purslane? What style of consumption? I have been cursing that stuff for all the years I’ve had my garden. Can’t get rid of it. I know they eat it in Mexico, I think as a salad green, but I just can’t make myself even try a nibble of it. It’s such a NOXIOUS WEED!
Also, anyone have a clue as to how to get rid of FuckingBindweed? Now THAT is a horrible horrible noxious weed, and I hate it with a passion. The local native plant people, the extension people, and the Master Gardeners all say to use pure-D Roundup. All of them say that. And that it only works if you let the plants go to flower, but not to seed, and paint the pure stuff onto the stems at that time with Q-tip or small brush. That is serious shit.
The garden purslane grows upright and has fat fiberless stems. If you can pick enough of the low-growing native stuff, saute it with cubed potato and onion and eat it in a soft taco. It has a nice lemony taste.