Walking to the garden to pick ingredients for a homemade salad is one of life’s simplest pleasures, especially when you’ve got a whole variety to choose from. Regardless of what kind of gardening skills (or lack thereof) you have, growing a salad garden is absolutely achievable.
When thinking of growing your garden, imagine the type of salads you’d like to dish up and wow your family and friends with. Do you want them to include herbs, beautifully coloured heirloom tomatoes, and delicate edible flowers? Then plant what you know you’ll eat.
You can get the whole family involved in growing a salad garden too. You’ll be surprised how much more likely kids will be to eat veggies if they’ve grown them themselves or been a part of the process. You might even find them outside eating straight from the garden! It’s not just eating the produce that’s beneficial either – the experience of being outdoors, spending quality time together and getting their hands in the soil is maybe the best part. And it’s highly likely they’ll develop a life-long love of gardening (or at the very least for cherry tomatoes!).
Ideas for what to grow in a salad garden
Rocket: Plant year-round in temperate climates. Roughly 30-40 days to maturity. Best planted near onions, carrots, cucumbers and other varieties of lettuce.
Oregano: Plant spring through summer. Roughly 70 days to maturity. Happy planted near almost anything.
Chives: Plant in spring or summer. Roughly 60 days to maturity. Best planted near carrots and cucumbers.
Nasturtiums: Plant early spring through summer. Roughly 65 days to maturity (when flowers can be harvested). Best planted near tomatoes, capsicum
and cucumber.
Parsley: Plant year-round in temperate climates. Roughly 65-75 days to maturity. Happy planted near most things.
Cucumber: Plant spring through summer. Roughly 50-60 days to maturity. Best planted near carrots, radishes and beans.
Calendula (use the petals only): Plant from early spring. Roughly 50 days to maturity. Best planted near cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and parsley.
Tomatoes: Plant in spring after the last frost. Roughly 65-75 days to maturity.
Best planted near basil, cucumber, parsley and onion.
Capsicums: Plant spring through summer. Roughly 50-60 days to maturity. Best planted near parsley, basil and onions.
You can pick the capsicums when they’re full-sized and green or leave them on the plant for longer to ripen to a sweeter red or yellow.
Carrots: Sow seeds directly all year round in temperate climates, sow seeds in spring through summer in colder areas. Roughly 65-75 days to maturity. Best planted near lettuce and onions.
Basil: Plant late spring through summer. Roughly 65-75 days to maturity. Best planted near tomatoes, capsicum, oregano, lettuce and onions.
Lettuce: Plant in spring. Roughly 50-60 days to maturity. Best planted near onions, carrots and cucumbers.
Beets: Plant spring through autumn. Roughly 45 days to maturity. Best planted near brassicas, lettuce and onions.
