I tried something new in my garden this winter. I was given a piece of white garden fabric this past fall which I put over one of my raised beds. I stapled both long sides to bamboo poles the same length which kept it in place. I threw a package of lettuce seeds down and covered up the bed with my fabric. It gave a safe haven for my Butter Crunch lettuce to grow – safe from the deer and the frost (although, everyone looked like a genius this warm winter) and the result was early robust lettuce. What better than to combine it with beets and carrots, other cold weather vegetables, which I did not grow, because that would take more perseverance than I have…
4 Beets peeled and cut in quarters
4 Carrots, peeled and cut into 2″ pieces
1 Tbs Canola Oil
3 cups Butter Crunch Lettuce
1/4 cup Seasoned Rice Vinegar
3/4 cup Canola Oil
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
- Heat the oven to 375 degrees
- Place the beets and carrots on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet and toss with the canola oil
- Roast the vegetables for about an hour until tender
- Let cool slightly and toss with a bit of the dressing and the lettuce
This salad would be great with Cambozola Blue or Fresh Goat Cheese or Rosemary Pecans (see post)
I use rubber gloves to peel the fresh beets – I love pink but not on my hands
This is what happens when you throw a few lettuce seeds in the garden in the fall, and cover it with garden cloth…
This looks fantastic. Tell me more about the cloth? Do you think it worked well, because of the mild late winter – or it would always work in the Mid-Atlantic. Great stuff ET.
BG
Thanks Brad! The cloth is called Floating Row Cover – it lets in 85% of the sunlight and protects from frost down to 28 degrees and helps to keep the soil moist for germination. Yes I do think it was so succesful due to the mild winter – but it gave germination process a big boost this past fall, which would be beneficial no matter how cold the winter becomes.