Not everything died during cold winter in my zone 6 - salads were sown in September.
Rucola - elegant and peppery spicy on plate, reliable and winter hardy while growing. Rich in vitamin C and potassium.
Rucola [Eruca sativa (syn. E. vesicaria subsp. sativa (Miller) Thell., Brassica eruca L.], also known as Garden Rocket, Rocket (British English), Eruca, Rocketsalad, جرجير jarjīr (Arabic), Arugula (American English), Rucola (Italian), Rukola (Slovenian, Polish), Rugola (Italian), Rauke (German), Roquette (French), Rokka (Greek), Roka (Turkish), Ruca (Catalan), Beharki (Basque), Voinicică (Romanian) Rúcula, Oruga and Arúgula (Spanish), Rúcula (Portuguese), Ruchetta (Italian) and Rughetta (Italian).
It gets more famous nowadays, because it will be grown in organic vegetable garden at the White House. Details were revealed last Friday, when Michelle Obama oficially started the works. On the White House blog you may also see the plan of garden and all veggies that will be growing for the health of presidential family.
My seeds (bought in Turkey 5 years ago and they still germinate in satisfactory amount) were sown in September. As you see on the picture big, healthy salads has grown while I was dreaming about Spring.
I found also some small carrots, that were hiding from me in the summer.
My organic corn salad (Valerianella locusta) is also winter hardy. Germinated last Autumn and growing straight in the cold garden. Blesses me with freshness in March. Nutritious corn salad has three times as much Vitamin C as lettuce, beta-carotene, B6, B9, Vitamin E, and omega-3 fatty acids. Best if gathered before flowers appear.
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They look good. Great pics ya took too.
ReplyDeleteRainGardener - isn't it great to see First Lady with the spade in her hands? I think it wins hearts of gardeners all over the world :)
ReplyDeletethanks for commenting.
You're making me hungry !
ReplyDeleteEverything looks sooo good.
I'm not sure if she'll influence non gardeners to garden but it would be great if more children ate healthier. Never know...
Thanks for researching all these different words for rocket! Can I add the Occitan word - roqueta. We have two varieties here, the cultivated one and the wild one. Both of them self-seed in our garden. There is also false rocket (also edible) which is sown between the rows of vines and then ploughed in as a green manure. It's good to know that it will be grown at the White House.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to see that these salads grew through your cold winter. Enjoy eating them!
Well, I never knew that the green I know as mache is also called corn salad! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Eva! In Puerto Rico end of March is already too late for most sallads (except Black Simpson) as the temperatures hover around 30 degrees at the coast. Fortunately there are some organic growers in the mountains, where it is cooler and they deliver to coast dwellers every weekend (those are Community Supported Agriculture farms) fresh greens and veggies that grow in the mountains. This trend started last summer. Hurra!
It's great to see all this growing in your garden, Ewa. Here in zone 5 vegetables don't survive our winter. But it's almost time to start spring planting, and I'll have to see if I get any new ideas from the Obamas' garden:) Corn salad is new to me, an interesting plant.
ReplyDeleteAh, Arugula! I love the stuff. Isn't it exciting about the white House garden! I do think she will motivate a lot of previously non-gardeners to start veggie gardens, at least in the US, as well as people who haven't had a vegetable garden in years.
ReplyDeleteThe economic environment is already primed for this, and the home vegetable gardening movement has already been growing by leaps and bounds.
Michelle Obama is very influential in the US - women want to buy the same clothes she wears, and see her as a role model, and she is making this one of the things she plans to promote on an ongoing basis. Already seed suppliers are running out of vegetable seeds, and expect to see a continuing boost to their businesses as the publicity surrounding the WH garden continues.
Federal food agencies are also promoting home gardening as are morning news shows and even economists, as a way to save real money in this tough economy. Not since the victory gardens campaign of WW2 has vegetable gardening been receiving so much press and so much interest.
Hi Ewa!
ReplyDeleteYour Rucola looks great. It's good vegetable for winter. I have mine in a big container and I think it will blossom the next weeks.