Remember my garden? Well when my gardening cohorts and I walked up to our garden yesterday, you’d think we had forgotten about it. Judging by the amount of weeds we encountered, to outside onlookers, it would have appeared that we had completely abandoned our little patch of flourishing life- but we didn’t; life has an incredible way of foiling even the best laid plans. So after three weeks of little to no tending, we embarked on what would end up being three hours of weeding.

The lesson; don’t be a gardening delinquent. Lesson. Learned.

In any event, our garden is once again presentable; and we are now beginning to enjoy the fruits of our labor! Despite being slightly neglected, our garden gifted us with all the trappings to create the freshest garden salad ever made- well maybe not ever, but you understand my excitement!

We were able to pick:

• Butter lettuce
• Mesclun
• Chives
• Dill
• Chard

But, gardening, as with any new pursuit, presents some unique learning opportunities. The extreme weather we have been experiencing in Edmonton- read: tons of rain followed by blistering heat, has proved a challenge for our romaine lettuce; as it has yet to reach its full potential- but I believe it will pull through. And, although, we followed the package planting instructions, our radishes were too crowded; and therefore unable to attain all the nutrients needed to thrive. So we had to thin them out; which will hopefully help. Only time will tell.

After our stint in the urban gardening trenches, I couldn’t wait to come home with my bounty and create a fresh salad. This zesty dressing is perfect for adorning greens, as seen here; or you could get all sorts of cray and mix it into your eggs, marinate your meat or spread it all over your body-  it really is that good!

It’s garden to table people; what’s not to love?!

Fresh Garden Green Salad Recipe with Zesty Herb Dressing

Makes 1 dinner sized portion

5 loosely packed cups mixed greens- chard, butter lettuce, mesclun, purple kale
1 cup tightly packed fresh garden chives
½ cup fresh garden dill
6 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
½ tsp horseradish
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp coconut sugar

In a blender combing chives, dill, olive oil, cider vinegar, horseradish, salt and coconut sugar; and blend on high until completely smooth. Toss with greens and serve immediately.