The weather is absolutely perfect for getting your teeth into a tangy, fresh, organic ‘crunch’ in the form of delectable, fast growing, salads to be harvested straight from the garden to the kitchen to table to stomach in just five minutes flat — no joking. It can be done!

First and foremost you need to prepare a nice patch of planting ground or, using the same soil mix that I am just about to suggest, prepare some growing trays, crates or pots in which to cultivate lots and lots of simple to care for, highly rewarding, salad greens. Having said this, not all of them are green but are an attractive array of reds, purples and even pinks and, while textures and tastes vary widely, they all, without exception, come complete with that wonderful ‘crunch’ that is so often and so disappointingly lacking in purchased, mostly chemical impregnated, salad ‘stuff’.

Now…the soil mix: Let’s opt for a highly nutritious, well draining, ‘best of the best’, rich recipe which will, as long as you remember to water well each evening, encourage your salad ingredients to be ‘up and at it’ in absolutely no time at all. Thirty per cent sweet earth — this needs to be nice and crumbly with any lumps methodically broken up, 30 per cent old, completely rotted down until it resembles chocolate cake crumbs, organic manure, 30 per cent top grade, preferably homemade, organic compost and 10 per cent river sand (not salty sea sand) to aid drainage.

Pile the ‘ingredients’ in a nice heap and then mix them thoroughly until you have achieved the ultimate, lump-free soil; shoving the whole lot through a purpose-designed soil sieve or the home contrived equivalent of a piece of strong wire netting stretched out and nailed to a wooden frame will ensure the job is satisfactorily done. If sowing seed directly in the garden, spread this mix, no more than three inches deep, on top of an existing, weed free bed or heap it into selected growing containers/pots — do check that drainage holes are not obstructed — water it down to settle, top up if needed and then in with those precious seeds.

All of these seeds, I will provide a list of suggestions shortly, should be thinly sown just under the soil surface for best results. The easiest way of doing this can be to dribble the small seeds, trying to keep them half an inch to an inch apart, on top of the soil surface and then, when done, sieve a light covering of soil over them. Alternatively, you can methodically excavate shallow rows, half an inch to an inch apart, sow your seeds in these and then rake the soil flat, nicely covering the seeds in the process. The first sowing method is, perhaps, more suitable for pots/containers and the second when cultivating your salads directly in the ground.

Next, let’s take a look at the all important ‘crunch’ factor in the form of seed varieties: All of the following will, as long as you follow the above instructions, germinate rapidly and can be harvested as ‘baby salad greens’, or allowed to grow on to a larger size without any deterioration in quality whatsoever. You should, all going well, be able to enjoy your first mouth-watering ‘crunch’ in as little as 10 to 14 days time which means, with repeat sowings at two-week intervals — later sowings in warmer weather being made in a partially shaded location — you should be able to enjoy an endless supply of nutritious salad leaves all around the year. Yes, this is, with care, possible.

Suitable varieties for high class crunch are: Lettuce of all kinds — with those very ornamental, brightly coloured, from delicate green through to a purple so dark it appears black, loose-leaved, oak-leaved and butterhead lettuces being just about the best. ‘Frilly’ leaved, tangy, mustard mizuna, giant red mustard with its gorgeous purple leaves, dark green, sharp tasting watercress, iron-rich spinach, Swiss chard/leaf beet with yellow, orange, red and brilliant green leaves, radicchio, endive, orach, corn salad, chicory, coriander and what are now fashionably known as ‘Asian greens’ which are a readymade mix of some of the previously mentioned varieties with a few surprises thrown in.

The method is this: You can, if you prefer and have the space, sow these varieties individually but it really is preferable to mix them together and sow them like this so that you produce beautiful trays/pots/containers/beds of perfectly mixed salad ‘crunch’. Harvesting is easy too and you can begin as soon as the plants are three or four inches tall, leave them until they are six inches in height if you prefer or allow them to get even bigger. At whichever stage you opt to ‘go for it’, simply, using a sharp pair of kitchen scissors, snip off, just above the base, as many leaves as you need for a salad and leave the rest to grow on. The more you harvest the more most of the varieties will produce but, if you leave them to reach full size you will, in all probability, only get the benefit of a single crop. Therefore, it makes obvious sense to cut away to your heart’s content until, that is, the plants have endured enough and give up the ghost but, this of course is not a problem as, good gardeners that you are, you will have replacements already coming up!

Please send your gardening queries to

zahrahnasir@hotmail.com. Remember to include your location. The writer will not respond directly by e-mail