Garden On, Vashon

Hummm… but will it fit in my salad bowl??

I took this photo about ten days ago. Since then, this Red Romaine and its brothers have been bulking up in Row 5 of what I call “GreenDale Farm,” the vegie patch I get to help with at Bill and Lee Green’s alpaca ranch.  

For me, gardening in a different Island microclimate is an eye-opener. Because GreenDale Farm enjoys full sun and sandy loan soil, tilled rich with alpaca manure and maple leaves, the patch grows most vegetables bigger and quicker than my own hole in the forest. 

Watching how two different gardens grow is thrilling, stomach-filling, and sometimes downright scary. My home garden in the half-shade grows lettuce a’plenty, so the GreenDale lettuce, undisturbed, grows on and on to Gigantor size.  Blink, and the radishes turn into golf-balls. The komatsuna mustard grew from hand-long leaves to boat paddles in three weeks. 

And this Red Romaine—sheesh!—it’s like our Stuffed Moosehead of the Garden. Some prize-winner, sure, but what do you DO with the monster?

(below: Same Seeds, Different Soil.  In the circular inset, the slim, 6″ long leaves of the Red Romaine grown in my shady garden. The big Red Romaine towering over the ripe looseleaf in front of it, came from the same flat as the other, grown from the same packet of seed. What a difference soil and site make!)

Bill, my garden mentor, had the answer: braised lettuce. “I made it for breakfast the other day. Bacon and vinegar in a skillet, then throw in the chopped lettuce just till it wilts—delicious!” 

Wilted Romaine Salad with Bacon

Half a romaine this size feeds two for lunch amply. And like most cooked-greens recipes, this will shrink the lettuce to half its original size or less.

Harvest a big romaine or other lettuce that’s crispy, and wash carefully; cut or tear leaves into 1″+ strips, put in a big salad bowl. Cut three pieces of bacon into cross-wise strips, 1/4 or more wide.. Put in a big skillet, cook on med-high, and when it’s almost cooked through, take 1/2 cup of malt vinegar, pour it in with the bacon (careful for spatters), sugar it to make tangy, salt and pepper it, then pour this tangy sauce over the lettuce and toss until the leaves wilt. Serve immediately.