Of all the edible crops, salad leaves make the most sense to be grown in the city.  Quality and nutritional value deteriorate rapidly once picked, so they are best consumed ultra-fresh if possible. As well as freshness, the range of leaves on offer to the gardener cannot be rivalled by the supermarkets, and this diversity benefits soil health and wildlife. Salad can be successfully grown all year round, in a wide range of environments, including containers and partial shade. And a little salad lifts any meal in a number of levels!

In this workshop we will deconstruct OrganicLea’s salad mix, which consists of 136 different leaves and 42 edible flowers. We will consider how to blend different flavours, textures and colours to delight all the senses. We will examine how and where to grow salad, including seed sowing tips, how they fit into a crop rotation, how to ensure continuous supply, and the crucial question of how to harvest them before the slugs do!

Workshop participants will get to sample a range of common and uncommon salad leaves, and take home seedlings of their own curated salad mix for growing on.

Delivered by Ru Litherland who has been growing salad commercially for nearly three decades, at Growing Communities and OrganicLea.

Fun fact: In 2013 Ru worked with local botanist Brian Wurzell to rescue the endangered wild plant Walthamstow Yellow Cress by realising its potential as a salad leaf and bringing it into the OrganicLea mix