I first encountered French dressing on a school trip to Paris. We were all puzzled by the idea of putting vinegar on lettuce as such things had yet to reach rural Norfolk. For us, salad was lettuce, tomato and cucumber with a dollop of salad cream. How little we knew.
My salads have been more adventurous for many years now but reading The Salad Garden by Joy Larkcom, I realise I still have much to learn. Yes, fennel, rocket and even red mustard are familiar but I’ve never thought of putting kale into salad and know nothing of Chinese artichoke.
The Salad Garden, first published in 1984, has been reissued with a revised and updated text that now includes more recent additions to the salad plate, including microgreens and cucamelon, described by Larkcom as “an edible novelty”.
It has long been labelled a ‘classic’ among gardening books and it’s easy to see why. Packed with content, it covers more than 200 ‘ingredients’ for salads, ranging from the familiar lettuce, through Oriental greens to edible wild plants and even weeds.
Each section gives not only cultivation and harvesting directions but suggestions for varieties to grow; some to cope with particular conditions, others to give a longer season of cropping.
The advice is borne of many years of growing: Larkcom started with a Suffolk allotment, moving through potagers and a market garden to her present-day County Cork home. Many of her more unusual suggestions are the result of a year she and her family spent travelling around Europe in a caravan, learning about vegetable growing and local varieties. Later she continued her research across Asia and America.
But there’s far more to discover than just what to grow. Her tips include practical ways of stopping cabbages rocking on windy sites, how to water lettuces, and mixing carrots with annual flowers, such as love-in-a-mist, to hide them from carrot fly.
She suggests letting landcress self-seed – “This sometimes seems the simplest way to grow it!” – advises against buying oriental veg too early in the season as it is prone to bolt, and notes that dwarf ornamental brassicas make good winter conservatory houseplants.
There are sections on compost-making, the design of kitchen gardens and the best size and shape of beds, growing in small spaces or containers and how to sow seed.
The book ends with recipe and serving ideas, a directory of seed suppliers and a very useful chart to plan a year-round supply of different salad ingredients. There is even a ‘where to start’ list for novices.
As such, this book would be ideal for anyone interested in producing salads more varied, fresher and cheaper than it is possible to buy.
“Experiment . . . and grow what you like!” Larkcom urges us. Her book makes it easy to start.
• The Salad Garden by Joy Larkcom is published by Frances Lincoln rrp £16.99. Buy Now (If you buy through this Amazon link, I may get a small fee and it doesn’t affect the price you pay.)
• Review copy supplied by Frances Lincoln.
• For more book reviews, see here