I harvested greens from my garden last night and made a delicious salad to take to a friend’s potluck. Every spring I am always surprised by how incredibly scrumptious greens are straight from the earth. I hope I never lose that surprise–it is a wonderful gift after a winter full of flavorless fruit. And it is always a great feeling to share a home grown meal with great friends.

The salad was simple and delicious: mixed greens from the High Mowing Lettuce Mix (I highly recommend this variety), arugula, dill, parsley, chives, pears, toasted pine nuts and a simple dressing of gobs of garlic, olive oil, balsamic, red wine and rice wine vinegars. It was delish and the only things not from my garden were the pears and pine nuts.

In other news, I have flea beetles on my arugula. Damnit. I consulted my master gardening manual and discovered that fleas beetles are hardy little buggers and I will use Neem Oil on the crop. I found some stuff online that suggests insecticidal soap, but I thoroughly read the label on my soap and it doesn’t even mention flea beetles so I won’t try it. Also interesting in an article from the Washington Times is that flea beetles prefer radish leaves and that interplanting radishes among arugula, eggplant and other veggies they can’t resist will draw them to the radishes….and who cares if you have lots of holes in your radish leaves? My radishes are ready by the way a bit later than the promised 24-day readiness date but they are adorable nonetheless.