Home-Grown Salad Vinaigrettes

June is high season for fresh greens, but what sort of dressing is worthy of a salad so divine? At my house, only homemade vinaigrette will do.

Edible flowers, such as these nasturtiums, dress up a summer salad.

In most parts of the country, early June is high season for green salads. Every evening I get to eat a different colorful assortment of lettuces, herbs and edible flowers. But what sort of dressing is worthy of a salad so divine?

At my house only homemade vinaigrette will do. When I asked around here at the office, everyone seemed to agree. They also agreed that there are just four essential ingredients: extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, salt and fresh-ground black pepper.

Vinegar. White wine or red wine vinegar is what’s used in a classic vinaigrette and it is the most popular choice for salad lovers at Gardener’s Supply. In the recipes below you’ll see that many of us change out some of that plain wine vinegar with flavored vinegars. Popular substitutions are herb-infused (red basil is popular), berry-infused (raspberry is a favorite) and aged balsamic. Some people also replace a little of the vinegar with fresh lemon juice.

Oil. Extra virgin olive oil is essential and everyone said it’s worth buying the best quality you can afford. If you’re out of good, extra virgin olive oil, use canola oil rather than a cheap, heavy-weight olive oil. The standard rule for vinaigrette is 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil.

Garlic. Most people add a little garlic to their vinaigrette. Some add lots. Be sure you mince it super-fine so no one gets surprised by a chunk. I prefer using shallots rather than garlic because the flavor is milder.

Sweet. Not everyone adds a sweetener, but a pinch of white sugar, brown sugar, honey or maple syrup is a nice compliment to the salty and sour flavors.

Extras. Dijon mustard is another popular addition. Using a splash of tamari instead of salt adds umami (that elusive fifth flavor of savoriness.

Here are a few vinaigrette recipes from salad lovers on our staff. If you have a special favorite of your own, please share it in the comments field below.

From Liz in Merchandising
“I reserve my best olive oil for salads. My favorite dressing is made with a lemon-flavored olive oil that I get in Portland, Maine, mixed with 12-year-old balsamic vinegar, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. People devour it and we never seem to tire of it. In the summer I’ll often use really good Greek, French or California olive oil with nothing but fresh lemon juice, sea salt and pepper. When I serve salads with heartier greens, fruit, nuts or cheese, I make a beefier dressing.”

• 2 T Grand Marnier
• 1 T white wine vinegar
• 2 T honey
• 1 T Dijon-style mustard
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

From Maree in Public Relations
“We’re often feeding a crowd on short notice so we tend to keep it simple!”

• 2/3 T red wine vinegar or good balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

From Kay in Merchandising
“When we lived in France, we made the classic vinaigrette. Once we moved to Vermont we began adding a secret ingredient.”

• 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp Herbes de Provence
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp tamari
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

From Kathy in Brand Services
“This vinaigrette keeps for weeks in the fridge. I’ve been making the same recipe for years and haven’t found one I like better.”

• 1 T good-quality balsamic vinegar
• 1 T cider vinegar
• 2 T tamari
• 2 T maple syrup
• 1 tsp country Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp minced shallot
• 3/4 c extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh, coarsely-ground pepper

—By Kathy LaLiberte
Director of Gardening, Gardener's Supply

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Share What You Grow

As you plant your new garden, have you thought about sharing some of your harvest? Most food pantries can provide only canned vegetables and fruit to their clients so gardeners supplying fresh produce can make a big difference for many people.

Early spring clean-up of the raised beds at Gardener's Supply. The paths had been taken over by weeds, but we got them all out.

As you plant your new garden, have you thought about sharing some of your harvest? Most food pantries can provide only canned vegetables and fruit to their clients so gardeners supplying fresh produce can make a big difference for many individuals.

The demand for hunger assistance has increased by 70 percent in recent years, and according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one in eight households in the United States experiences hunger or the risk of hunger.

At Gardener’s Supply, we have been creating connections between gardening and local food since we started in 1983:

• Every year, we honor gardeners who feed the hungry through our Garden Crusader program
• We founded the Intervale Center, here at our headquarters in Vermont, home to one of the largest community-supported agriculture farms in New England.
• We support Plant a Row for the Hungry, a grassroots program that advocates the donation of surplus garden to local food banks, soup kitchens and service organizations.
• Last year, employees donated produce from gardens surrounding our Vermont offices and the employees' home gardens. Total donation in 2009: 1,200 pounds

Want to help? Learn more by reading Share the Harvest.

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Invest in Asparagus

If you love asparagus and want to grow some yourself, waste no time in getting an asparagus bed planted. Even with the best of care, an asparagus bed won’t hit its stride until several years.

Jersey Supreme Asparagus, one of the all-male cultivars

If you love asparagus and want to grow some yourself, waste no time in getting an asparagus bed planted. Even with the best of care, an asparagus bed won’t hit its stride until several years after planting. Once it starts yielding a crop, the same bed will produce an abundant crop of spears spring after spring for at least the next 20 to 30 years.

In the old days, gardeners were told to prepare an asparagus bed by digging an 18″ deep trench and then backfilling it with a mix of compost and soil. Today we can grow improved varieties of asparagus that are less work to plant (6″ to 12″ deep is adequate) and that produce almost twice as many spears per plant. The production increases are due to the fact that these hybrids are all-male cultivars, so no energy is wasted producing seeds. They also don’t produce baby asparagus plants, which can compete for space and nutrients. So forget about Martha Washington and the old asparagus varieties. Most of the new varieties are also resistant to two common asparagus diseases: fusarium rot and asparagus rust.

To learn all the details on starting your own bed, read How to Grow Asparagus.

—Kathy LaLiberte
Director of Gardening, Gardener's Supply

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Prevent Transplant Shock

As the garden centers fill up with 6-packs of irresistible little vegetable and flower seedlings, it’s good to remember what a shock it can be for those plants to go from greenhouse to your garden.

Look for plants that are in proportion to the size of the pot they're growing in.

Gently lift the seedling from the pot to check root growth. This well-grown transplant shows healthy white roots without a tangle of congested roots at the bottom of the root ball.

This seedling is rootbound. To ensure that it gets a good start, gently tease out the roots at planting time.

Yellowing foliage indicates that this transplant is probably rootbound.

As the garden centers (including ours here in Vermont) fill up with 6-packs of irresistible little vegetable and flower seedlings, it’s good to remember what a shock it can be for those plants to go from greenhouse to your garden. Without a little preemptive TLC, “transplant shock” can interrupt their growth and set them back by two or three weeks.

Here are a couple ways to ease the transition:

When shopping for plants, keep your eyes out for seedlings that are displayed outdoors (rather than inside a greenhouse). Having already been exposed to wind, sun and variations in temperature, they’ll have a running start on the vagaries of life in the garden. If greenhouse plants are the only option, bring them home and keep them outdoors in a sheltered location for four or five days so they can toughen up.

Seek out plants that are well-matched to the size of the pot they're growing in. If the plants look too small, they may have been recently transplanted and won’t yet have developed a strong root system. Plants that are big and overgrown will have a tangled root mass that’s too small to support the top growth. If in doubt, gently tap the pot or tray and ease out the root ball to take a look. For most annual flowers and vegetables, healthy roots will be white and fleshy.

An overcast day with calm wind is ideal for transplanting. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, be prepared to cover the plants immediately with garden fabric to protect them from windburn, sunburn and chilly temperatures. Even an hour or two of wind or hot sun is enough to cause harm. Depending on weather, the crop and the weight of the fabric, seedlings can stay under this protective cover for several weeks.

Plants should be settled into the garden at the same soil level as they were growing in their pots. Tomatoes are the exception to this rule, because they are able to sprout roots all along their stems. With large tomato seedlings you can carefully remove the bottom leaves and bury the roots and stem so only the top 4-6″ of the plant shows above the soil level.

Soak all transplants thoroughly before putting them into the garden. Move individual plants from pot to soil quickly so their roots are exposed to the air as briefly as possible. Once planted, immediately soak the entire area to establish good capillary action between the newly-disturbed soil and the surrounding soil. Soaking means watering slowly to moisten the soil to a depth of 3-4″. If possible, give these new plants a strengthening drink of seaweed or seaweed-fish fertilizer. Those vitamins and other nutrients are easy for plants to absorb and will help minimize stress.

It takes several weeks for young transplants to develop new roots and begin drawing moisture and nutrients from the surrounding soil. Until this time, monitor your plants daily to make sure the root zone doesn’t dry out.

—Kathy LaLiberte
Director of Gardening, Gardener's Supply

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Why I Garden

Back in 2009, we challenged members of our staff to come up with a video to answer the question: Why do you garden? We feel this video is one of the best.

Why Do You Garden? Video Tells the Story

Deborah Miuccio

Back in 2009, we challenged members of our staff to come up with a video to answer the question: Why do you garden? We feel this video is one of the best. Deborah Miuccio, who created the video says, "I hope this video inspires more people to grow their own healthy food and to see how much fun it can be to get their kids involved in gardening."

Deborah, who involved her whole family in the project, admits that "I initially embarked on making the video because the contest prizes were enticing. But then it became much more. In fact, the video has become a family heirloom."

She got a lot of help from her sister Liana, who is a photographer. "We wanted to celebrate family, nature and the beauty of outdoor living in our precious and short summer season in Vermont," Deborah says. "Eating well and eating fresh are key ingredients in my family's Italian food heritage, and having a small vegetable garden in the backyard helps us keep that tradition going. "

The garden has always played an important role in her family. "Our kids think it's fun to run over and snatch spinach leaves right out of the ground and eat them for a quick snack — the same spinach that they would refuse to eat at the dinner table. My 3-year-old will often ask, 'Where does corn come from? How do chocolate chips grow?' I'm happy to know that they don't think that all food comes from package in a supermarket."

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