Salad In a Box

Credit: Carolyn Herriot

This salad box should supply ample fresh salads this winter, as the plants will be sheltered from heavy frosts under a window of glass. They will grow much better when protected from the relentless rain and heavy frosts we get in winter. An old single-pane window (on its way to the dump) does perfectly and even slides open for harvesting!

I simply built a “lasagna” garden inside a recycled wooden cold frame, starting with a layer of manure and cardboard and filling the box to 18 inches below the top with layers of leaves, compost, spoiled hay and aged horse manure. I finished with a layer of compost into which I planted rows of spinach, coriander, ‘Icy Queen’ winter lettuce, parcel, radicchio, escarole, mixed mustard greens, ‘Autumn King’ carrots, corn salad, arugula and winter mesclun mix. These rows of greens will be ingredients for the freshest, most delicious winter salads.

I’ll harvest the greens using the “cut-and-come-again” method, which means I’ll use scissors to cut the baby greens 2 inches above the soil. Because the growing medium is so rich it will not take long for them to re-grow for future harvests.