cookiesdaddy
Chillin' In The Garden
I've been rinsing 2 times outside in a large bowl then drain the water back to the garden. But it still seems a waste of lots of water. Do you bother cleaning your salad off the garden? How many times?
How do you wash your loose leaf lettuce?
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lesa
Garden Master
The problem with salad greens is that if it has been rainy- they will get dirty... I am not a gadget person- but this is one time I became one! I purchased a salad spinner. They really work great. Washes and then drys the leaves. They are pricey, but you can often find them at garage sales, thrift stores, etc.
Before I had the spinner- I just rinsed and patted dry with paper towels.
Enjoy your salad!
Before I had the spinner- I just rinsed and patted dry with paper towels.
Enjoy your salad!
digitS'
Garden Master
Well, you can rinse the dirt off your hands at the same time . . .
Rinsing lettuce uses lots of water and it is difficult for a guy with big clumsy hands to do it without breaking a half dozen leaves. I gently hold the lettuce rosette from the underside and push it thru the water about 3 times. Turn 180 and repeat. Lift from basin and shake gently. The lettuce can then go into a plastic basket and drain a little.
Lesa, my wife also uses a salad spinner. I'm a little surprised that she bothers but I'm an Italian dressing kind of guy and she goes for the ranch. I think that might be the reason.
Daddy, the water rates went up here, high rate for high-users. I immediately panicked! I pay for water in one garden location but it wasn't there that I'm especially concerned - the tenant and I share the yard water and if he bothers to put some water down on 25% of what he is responsible for, it is the best that can be hoped for. I pay for his and mine and never get above minimum.
Another garden location has agriculture water - the property owner considers it a tax and it is. Pay by the acre whether you use it or not. Once again, we never top what is allowed. Third location has ag water rights and a big well. Home owner irrigates acres, pays maintenance & electricity and our little patch is on automatic.
But here at home . . . gosh, we wash lots of veggies and water with lawn sprinklers. Checked on past usage against new rates. Not even close! By a power of 10! What must these "high-users" be doing?? Maybe these are the people that run an 1" water/hour sprinkler for 10 hours overnight!
People who do that must never have bothered to toss a cake pan out on their lawn and actually measure the water coming out of the dang sprinkler!
Steve
westerner, who in the garden eats shoots and leaves, daily. single action revolver.
Rinsing lettuce uses lots of water and it is difficult for a guy with big clumsy hands to do it without breaking a half dozen leaves. I gently hold the lettuce rosette from the underside and push it thru the water about 3 times. Turn 180 and repeat. Lift from basin and shake gently. The lettuce can then go into a plastic basket and drain a little.
Lesa, my wife also uses a salad spinner. I'm a little surprised that she bothers but I'm an Italian dressing kind of guy and she goes for the ranch. I think that might be the reason.
Daddy, the water rates went up here, high rate for high-users. I immediately panicked! I pay for water in one garden location but it wasn't there that I'm especially concerned - the tenant and I share the yard water and if he bothers to put some water down on 25% of what he is responsible for, it is the best that can be hoped for. I pay for his and mine and never get above minimum.
Another garden location has agriculture water - the property owner considers it a tax and it is. Pay by the acre whether you use it or not. Once again, we never top what is allowed. Third location has ag water rights and a big well. Home owner irrigates acres, pays maintenance & electricity and our little patch is on automatic.
But here at home . . . gosh, we wash lots of veggies and water with lawn sprinklers. Checked on past usage against new rates. Not even close! By a power of 10! What must these "high-users" be doing?? Maybe these are the people that run an 1" water/hour sprinkler for 10 hours overnight!
People who do that must never have bothered to toss a cake pan out on their lawn and actually measure the water coming out of the dang sprinkler!
Steve
westerner, who in the garden eats shoots and leaves, daily. single action revolver.
patandchickens
Deeply Rooted
It's a whole big lot easier to wash as separate leaves than as heads IME, for any of you who are harvesting the whole head. Washed and dried leaves generally keep well for at least a few days if rolled strudel-style in damp paper towels and kept in a plastic bag in the fridge crisper, so if you prefer to take a whole head at once rather than just pick individual leaves, you can take all the leaves OFF that head (cut or rip teh core out) and do them all loose.
Some varieties are easier to wash than others. If you don't have a slug problem in the garden, a mulch (especially soemthing like straw or dried long grass) helps keep the leaves cleaner too.
Honestly though I grow nearly all my lettuce in windowbox-type containers, where they are far more protected against slugs and I can site them in a wind/rain-protected area, and the leaves are EVER so much cleaner and usually require hardly any washing.
I wash my lettuce in the salad spinner 'basket' (that's what i pick it into, too, in fact). Run a trickle of water thru and sort of stir the contents by hand and poke specks of dirt off leaves as I see 'em. I often give the 'used' water to my houseplants. But if you have a LARGE quantity to wash, especially if it's whole plants, the best thing I know of is a deep bucket or utility-sink of water (depending how much "a large quantity" is for you
) and wash the heads individually, holding the root end and sort of "flapping" them up and down in the water as if you were trying to unclog a drain.
Pat
Some varieties are easier to wash than others. If you don't have a slug problem in the garden, a mulch (especially soemthing like straw or dried long grass) helps keep the leaves cleaner too.
Honestly though I grow nearly all my lettuce in windowbox-type containers, where they are far more protected against slugs and I can site them in a wind/rain-protected area, and the leaves are EVER so much cleaner and usually require hardly any washing.
I wash my lettuce in the salad spinner 'basket' (that's what i pick it into, too, in fact). Run a trickle of water thru and sort of stir the contents by hand and poke specks of dirt off leaves as I see 'em. I often give the 'used' water to my houseplants. But if you have a LARGE quantity to wash, especially if it's whole plants, the best thing I know of is a deep bucket or utility-sink of water (depending how much "a large quantity" is for you
) and wash the heads individually, holding the root end and sort of "flapping" them up and down in the water as if you were trying to unclog a drain. Pat
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cookiesdaddy
Chillin' In The Garden
It is the slug that I'm concerned about. I know we have slugs hiding under the bottom leaves sometimes. I'm surprised the chickens don't seem to do their job this year
Haven't put mulch in my garden beds yet. You think it'll help with the slug problem? I have wood chips that I can use, or I can also go buy some straw.
Haven't put mulch in my garden beds yet. You think it'll help with the slug problem? I have wood chips that I can use, or I can also go buy some straw.
patandchickens
Deeply Rooted
No no no, IME mulch makes slug problems WORSE (it gives them lots of places to hide during the day, in addition to your lettuce plants I mean, and to breed)
They say that sharp sand, or diatomaceous earth, sprinkled around the plants helps repel slugs; or you can go the copper barrier route if you don't mind spending a bit of money.
But truly the best solution to slugs I've found is to grow the plants in windowbox-type containers (on my deck, usually)
IME no amount of swishing and washing will *guarantee* sluglessness. This is pretty much WHY I grow most of my lettuce in semi-slug-free containers... because when I was growing up I found way too many slugs in my salads and the cumulative effect has been to make me very paranoid about it
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
They say that sharp sand, or diatomaceous earth, sprinkled around the plants helps repel slugs; or you can go the copper barrier route if you don't mind spending a bit of money.
But truly the best solution to slugs I've found is to grow the plants in windowbox-type containers (on my deck, usually)
IME no amount of swishing and washing will *guarantee* sluglessness. This is pretty much WHY I grow most of my lettuce in semi-slug-free containers... because when I was growing up I found way too many slugs in my salads and the cumulative effect has been to make me very paranoid about it
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
NwMtGardener
Garden Addicted
Yes I love the salad spinner! I saw a cool technique for a LARGE amount of lettuce washing and drying - an old school clothes washer that was dedicated to rinsing and spinning lettuce!
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cookiesdaddy
Chillin' In The Garden
Thanks Pat for the tip. I'll have to try some DE and see it it makes a difference.
About salad spinner, my wife has one and uses it to dry lettuce. But I didn't know you can was lettuce in it too. How?
About salad spinner, my wife has one and uses it to dry lettuce. But I didn't know you can was lettuce in it too. How?
patandchickens
Deeply Rooted
Take the lid/handle off, and use the basket, either removed and held under the faucet, or swishing around in the water-filled salad spinner bowl.cookiesdaddy said:
I use the basket of the salad spinner for harvesting the lettuce too, in fact -- I take it out of the bowl part, bring it out onto the deck with me to put lettuce leaves in, then hold it under the faucet while I rinse the lettuce (in the basket) by hand, then put the basket back in the salad spinner and replace lid/handle to spin dry.
I do not know for sure whether all salad spinners let you do this, but the ones I've owned all have.
Pat
annageckos
Deeply Rooted
My solution for slugs is a mix of DE and crushed egg shells around the plants they are eating. I dry the egg shells either overnight or in the oven, then crush up with a rock in a bowl, or you could use a mortar and pestle or even a food processor. Mix with DE and form a line around the plants you want to keep them off off. I used this to keep them off my young broccoli plants they were eating and it worked great.
