Next section: Swiss chard, a vegetable whose stalks remind me of asparagus, and leaves of spinach. Those products might kill Bermuda grass, but they don't stop at weeds. Breaking up the clay, picking out the rubble and, with increasingly ragged fingers, pulling out the Bermuda root took days. What kind of greens are in a mixed green salad. But when it came to finally raking over the bed, to feeling the fine soft mix of soil, I couldn't have felt more rejuvenated, more proud, more hopeful. I dimly realize that it will take more springs, first and second, to figure out what I can grow and what I will lose to my particular combination of pets and pests. After disappearing from summer glare, dandelions returned to my lawn in September. Another pot, followed by a mix of radicchio, endive, mizuna and Batavian lettuce. First in, the arugula, which I interspersed with a new, lovely, pale nasturtium, Vanilla Berry.
Here are some sources for a starter salad garden: Renee's Garden "California Spicy Greens" seed mix with arugula, mizuna and endive is available from Orchard Supply Hardware and leading Southern Californian garden centers for $2. Even rye grass didn't always catch here. I thought of every bad moment of bad days and swung the pick and swore. Nowhere near enough. Assaulting the rubble, I never made it 2 feet deep. Then I remembered why I don't and won't. By God, you look delicious already! Mix of lettuces and other greens crossword clue and solver. The first clue was that the lettuces at farmers markets somehow contrived to get lusher, frillier, more tender every autumn. In the next stretch of newly tilled earth, broccoli raab -- those strong-flavored trim-line florets the chefs serve with lemon, olive oil, garlic and chile peppers. I covered the broken-up clay with a mix of roughly 2 inches of compost and one of manure, and chopped it in, an overall ratio of six of soil to one of compost and manure. The chicken manure will add nitrogen to the soil.
Soon this bed would be covered with dewy heads of lettuce, arugula, radicchio and endive. On farm visits, I have been shown lettuce beds of plant breeders that are dug 2 feet deep and lined with gopher wire. To know how much to buy, measure your plot, then look for a key on the side of the sack to calculate how much it will cover.
Then there were the intriguing asides on the back of some seed packets: "Plant again in fall in mild climates. What two greens go together. I swear solemnly to them that I will routinely weed to keep the Bermuda grass at bay. To sow vegetables from seed, you need the finest, softest, best-drained soil. Soon earthworms that had long ago abandoned the lawn would move in. The dandelion is, in fact, a food plant and close relation to many of our favorite salad leaves.
Or, to get it free, go to city recycling centers and bring a truck or large sacks. As a break between the arugula and next planting, I put down a pot with sage, partly for decoration, mainly to discourage the dogs from trampling the bed. But the thing I crave the most as autumn sets in, and cooking turns rich, are fresh, light salad greens. But standing in my garden this particular October morn, I can't suppress my glee.
These were usually the good-for-you foods: kale, spinach, cabbage. Mostly I cursed my refusal to use Roundup or other herbicides. Nothing is more important in promoting growth, preventing disease and ensuring that water reaches but doesn't drown the roots of plants. It's soil condition.
Recommended reading: "The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping" by Rosalind Creasy (Sierra Club Books, $25); and "The Organic Salad Garden, " by Joy Larkcom (Lincoln Frances, $24. Both are peppery, the arugula for salad, the nasturtiums to use whole or diced as slightly hot and vivid garnishes. Once I realized that these too were perfect candidates for Southern California's second spring, there was only one thing left to do: tear up a good chunk of lawn out back and put in a salad garden. I edged the bed with pieces of concrete to discourage encroaching Bermuda grass, and began marking out my salad zones. Compost made from recycled grass clippings is given away by the county at four sites: Central Los Angeles (2649 E. Washington Blvd., open 9 a. m. to 5 p. ); San Pedro (1400 Gaffey St., at entrance of Harbor District Refuse Yard, open 24 hours); Northridge (at Wilbur Avenue and Parthenia Street, open 24 hours); and Lakeview Terrace (11950 Lopez Canyon Road, open 7 a. to dusk). At 8 inches, I felt like Prince Charles, champion of organics. Or at least it is when it comes to growing vegetables. A pick swung harder, maybe 2 inches. If you are working with sandy soil, you will need the compost to add organic matter, and help slow drainage rather than start it. Composted redwood shavings from a garden supply place came next, and chicken manure. It would, I grant you, have been easier to buy the arugula by the bag. As I transformed myself into a one-woman chain gang, I didn't think of salad.
Hail Noble Horticulturalist!