Lettuce Love: Decorative & Nutritious Mesclun Mix 

Mesclun is from the Provençal region of France and translates to “mixture” as in a mixture of lettuce greens. The traditional Mesclun mix consists of chervil, arugula, endive, and lettuce in precise proportions, but nowadays, many other wild greens may be included. Create a mix suitable to your own palette by adding the frilly fronds of frisée, spicy mizuna, nutty-flavored mâche, or mahogany-red radicchio, watercress, parsley or other herbs. The objective is to have a mix that is sweet, spicy, bitter, crisp…and beautiful.  

Lettuces, herbs, container tomatoes, and edible flowers can be grown easily in planters on a sunny deck or porch where they are readily available at a quick snip for the kitchen cook. 

Last of the spring bling…. I’m loving the burgundy-burnished-copper-mahogany & green combination. This will be a repeat for next fall. Here in Georgia, we had just the right winter weather (finally) with enough cold temperatures to keep the flowers looking fresh, but not so chilly as to dispatch a soggy palette of wilted winter container color. We also had a very chilly March, so that prolonged our winter flower display this year….a joy to behold. And in a just a few short days, I’ll be ripping all these containers apart to make room for their summer counterparts! 

Last of the spring bling…. I’m loving the burgundy-burnished-copper-mahogany & green combination. This will be a repeat for next fall. Here in Georgia, we had just the right winter weather (finally) with enough cold temperatures to keep the flowers looking fresh, but not so chilly as to dispatch a soggy palette of wilted winter container color. We also had a very chilly March, so that prolonged our winter flower display this year….a joy to behold.

And in a just a few short days, I’ll be ripping all these containers apart to make room for their summer counterparts! 

Strawberry Spinach for the urban kitchen garden. Botanical name: Chenopodium capitatum. Other common names:  Indian Paint and Beet Berry.   This Native American plant has been around for 400 years. The greens, very high in Vitamins C and A, have a nutty flavor and can be cooked like spinach. The red berries look more like raspberries than strawberries and have a subtle watermelon-like taste. They make a nice addition to an edible “floral confetti” (marigold petals, nasturtium, borage, etc.) for salads. Best grown in a full-sun container garden with regular watering for optimum performance. Expect the plant to grow about 2’ tall and wide, densely loaded with red berries by late summer. It is cold-hardy and heat-tolerant, but you will most likely have to grow it from seed, as it is rarely available at the nursery. In mild winter climates, it will self-sow easily, so keep it contained if you are concerned about a Strawberry Spinach invasion.  Before adding this plant to your diet, read about some of the precautions at Plants For a Future, here. 

Strawberry Spinach for the urban kitchen garden. Botanical name: Chenopodium capitatum. Other common names:  Indian Paint and Beet Berry.  

This Native American plant has been around for 400 years. The greens, very high in Vitamins C and A, have a nutty flavor and can be cooked like spinach. The red berries look more like raspberries than strawberries and have a subtle watermelon-like taste. They make a nice addition to an edible “floral confetti” (marigold petals, nasturtium, borage, etc.) for salads.

Best grown in a full-sun container garden with regular watering for optimum performance. Expect the plant to grow about 2’ tall and wide, densely loaded with red berries by late summer. It is cold-hardy and heat-tolerant, but you will most likely have to grow it from seed, as it is rarely available at the nursery. In mild winter climates, it will self-sow easily, so keep it contained if you are concerned about a Strawberry Spinach invasion. 

Before adding this plant to your diet, read about some of the precautions at Plants For a Future, here. 

Making the Rounds….Breaking Beauty  I love this time of year, visiting all my container garden clients as I do every Friday. The planters we installed last fall, break loose and fill porches, terraces and pool decks with color, fragrance, and frenzied foliage. The riot of color only lasts for a couple of weeks. But it’s worth every moment. 

Making the Rounds….Breaking Beauty 

I love this time of year, visiting all my container garden clients as I do every Friday. The planters we installed last fall, break loose and fill porches, terraces and pool decks with color, fragrance, and frenzied foliage. The riot of color only lasts for a couple of weeks. But it’s worth every moment. 

Not all organic fertilizers are created equal, as is apparent with these Hydrangeas growing in over-sized olive jars. 

For those of you who have been following along for a while, y’all know I’m a big fan of an organic tea from Authentic Haven Brand, made from cow manure. (Regular “users” fondly refer to it as Moo Poo Tea.) 

I’ve been using cow manure tea on a number of container gardens, houseplants and bulbs for some time now - with fabulous results - and this year, it will become an ingredient in every single container garden for spring, so if you’re one of my clients, here’s what you have to look forward to! 

Authentic Haven Brand Natural Brew provides 100% natural soil nutrients, and it’s free of antibiotics, growth hormones, GMO/GE feed, herbicides and pesticides. The company, founded in 1924, is owned and operated by Annie Haven, an American rancher who inherited the company from her father. Her livestock is raised on permanent, native grass pastures at the Haven Family Ranch in California. Annie is committed to raising grass-fed livestock and providing a product that enriches the soil organically for herbs, vegetables, flowers, houseplants, bulbs, seeds, and anything else you’ve got growing in the landscape.  

What makes this organic tea so different from others? It is harvested ONLY from the by-products of Haven-owned livestock. It has no odor (a common concern for people inquiring about the product), and it is easily “brewed” in a bucket with water from the garden hose. Not much effort to get results like this! 

Link to: Authentic Haven Brand products.