Ah! Flattery will get you everywhere! Suttons sent out four salad seed mixes for gardening bloggers and journalists to trial in early Feb, accompanied by one’s own personalised wooden growing tray. Now, I have to admit to being the kind of person who buys trainers because the ‘N’ logo matches my own initial, so I couldn’t help but be charmed. Not that this would sway me in any way in regards to the results of the seed trials………….(Hm…).
Confessions over, onto the mixes. None of my indoor windowsills could accommodate my personalised wooden tray, as it measures 53 x 36 x 9cm high, but luckily for me, I have a lovely new greenhouse (hurrah!), so out I popped and got sowing at the beginning of March. I’m a bit of a traditionalist, and like sowing my leaves individually, not all mixed in together, so I must admit to being a little curious as to how I’d get on with these packets.
Growing above is the ‘Spicy Oriental Mix’ (5 weeks after sowing) and I found it to be very tasty. This peppery/mustard mix contains: Pak Choi ‘Cantong White’, Mizuna, ‘Kyoto’, mustard leaves ‘Red Giant’ and ‘Golden Streaks’ and Salad Rocket. All quick growers and perfect for growing in the cooler weather in early spring. However I do like a nice bit of crunch in my salads these days, and these young tender leaves are quite soft, so for me the mix worked best combined with bought Cos type lettuces (my own are still a few weeks away from being ready to pick) for the ideal taste and texture.
We held another ‘Cake Sunday’ community get-together this weekend and Suttons kindly donated 50 packs of their salad leaf mixes to give away (huge thanks!). After neighbours nibbled leaves from my seed tray mix, packets flew off the table!
The three other mixes that came with the crate are: ‘French Mix’ containing Salad rocket, Dandelion, Chervil and Cress, ‘Italian Mix’ containing Basil, Dandelion, Cress, Mustard Ruby Steaks and Wild Rocket and ‘Californian Mix’ containing Mustard leaves, Pak Choi, Greek Cress and Wild Rocket. I’ll be growing these outdoors (in my crate once the spicy mix has had its second flourish) over the next few months now the weather is warming up and I hope they’ll be equally tasty.
The wooden crate itself is part of Suttons’ ‘Stacks of Flavour’ range. Crates start at £20 for one slat high (with personalised message of up to 20 characters) which also includes 4 packets of salad mixes and crates come in 1, 2 or 3 slats high and either 18cm or 36cm deep.
You can buy the empty crates or crates with themed seed collections or plants such as the 2 slats high Herbtastic collection containing plugs of Chives, Mint, Parsley, Thyme and Oregano or the 3 slats high Pizza collection with super plugs of Crimson Crush tomato plants, Basil and Oregano.
Great ideas that make it simple for those who want to grow their own in small spaces (in a beautifully coordinated fashion!).
