It just takes one nasty spell of lower intestinal discomfort from something like cyclospora to make one wary of consuming big-farm produce in a plastic bag. Unfortunately, too many people buy mass-produced bagged greens because they are so convenient.
But there are other alternatives. Buy from local growers or grow your own salad greens in a bag at home for minimal effort and cost. All it takes is a sunny spot in the garden or patio, a big bag of potting soil and a six-pack or two of salad greens. Poke drainage holes on one flat side of the bag and then on the other side insert a couple of six- pack of vegetable starts. This is a fun project to introduce kids to food growing.
Vegetables like Asian greens, leaf lettuce, spinach, chard and kale will provide you with an instant bagged salad within two to three weeks. You can get several harvests picking leaves. Simply add water when necessary. That’s it. No weeding, no digging. No scary stories or dire experiences.
Growing greens in a bag takes a few minutes to plant. If you use a top-quality potting soil, fertilizing might not be necessary. More expensive soil mixes usually have enough fertilizer already added. With cheaper soil mixes it is best to fertilize every week with fish emulsion.
Since the bagged soil will be depleted of nutrients once the crops are completely harvested, recycling the soil is necessary. You can use spent potting soil as mulch in other parts of the garden. You can add it to the compost pile as brown material.
You can also recharge spent potting soil for container gardening later on. Combine equal parts spent soil, fresh potting soil and garden compost to make a productive mix for both flowers and vegetables.
Terry Kramer is the retired site manager for the Humboldt Botanical Garden and a trained horticulturist and journalist. She has been writing a garden column for the Times-Standard since 1982. She currently runs a gardening consulting business. Contact her at 707-834-2661 or terrykramer90@gmail.com.
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