NOT YOUR MOTHERS SALAD ANY MORE

There's no need to eat that boring salad your mother use to feed you.You can get and grow some interesting and nutritional greens for a wonderful tasting salad.

Lettuce and spinach are salad staples but shy not try something new? Add an extra bite to your salad with some unusual greens.

The less familiar greens such as orach is well known in Europe but not commonly grown in the United States.Its extremely easy to grow and tolerates even the poorest soil conditions Although the plant grow well in cool weather, the leaves do not become bitter when the plant bolts in the summer.If you continually harvest your orach leaves,you maybe able to maintain the plant until frost kills it in the fall.

corn salad , also known as lambs lettuce is a melt in your mouth green.It blends best with pungent greens. It's a cool weather green like arugula or mustard greens,It can tolerate some frost.

Miners lettuce,also known as claytonia perfoliata, was eaten by miners of the California Gold Rush to prevent scurvy since it is high in vitamin C.It is easy to grow in cool conditions and wet soil.The plant produces clumps of heart-shaped leaves wrapped around tender stems.If harvested regularly before flowers form, the plant readily sprouts again.

Treated like a weed in most of the United States and Canada purslane is actually highly nutritious.For salads only use the young shoots and spoon-shaped leaves-the flavor deteriorates rapidly as the plant matures and flowers.Severed fresh purslane has a slightly peppery flavor and a crunchy-chewy texture. Purslane grows upright and is easy to harvest.

Sorrel (often called dock) produces sword-shaped leaves that add a sour ,lemony-flavor to fresh garden salads. Use the small leaves for salad and the large ones for soup.Sorrel has high levels of vitamin A,vitamin C, and potassium.

There's also a wide range of mustard greens-large and small,thick-and thin-stemmed,in colors from green to red to purple.These plants are easy to grow and quick to mature; the spicy flavor is best when leaves are young and tender.

We shouldn't forget the all time favorites like arugula, radicchio,endive and escarole.They are still great for salads. Arugula has become quite pricey in supermarkets and trendy restaurants,but is still a favorite.The elongated or tight head of radicchio adds a tangy flavor to salads and is visually appealing with its red and white leaves. While endive and escarole are variants of the same species,differing only in leaf shape. Both have a slightly bitter buttery flavor and unique texture.They both can also be grown in the spring and fall,the fall crop is by far the best.

Don't limit your salads to the most familiar, liven them up with mixtures selected from the unusual and the delicious.Try your hand at growing your favorites and enjoy nutritious meal.