Bed 2 - Salad Garden

lettuce=makes radishes more tender

Beets=improve production of onions & add minerals to the soil.

Chives=improve the flavor of carrots

Nasturtiums=deters aphids & other pests

Harvesting Lettuce:  Pick when outer, older leaves are 4 – 6” long. Older leaves may be removed. Head lettuce should be moderately firm. Place immediately in cold water when picked in the garden.

Harvesting Chives:  Start snipping chives after 90 days from seed or 60 days from transplanted divisions.  For a continuous harvest throughout the growing season, remove only as much as you need, instead of all the leaves.

• Good for adding minerals to the soil. The leaves are composed of 25% magnesium making them a valuable addition to the compost pile if you don't care to eat them.
• Keep away from Runner or pole beans.  They tend to stunt each other's growth.

• Lettuce is a cool weather crop.  It needs plenty of water.  Plant in the spring and fall - will not do well in the heat of the summer.
• Plant under the trellis tents of cucumbers to avoid the hot sun.
• Plant radishes with lettuce to enhance the flavor of the radishes.
• Lettuce grows well in the shade under young sunflowers. 
• Dill and lettuce are a perfect pair.
• Keep lettuce away from cabbage. Cabbage is a deterrent to the growth and flavor of lettuce.

• Planting chives with carrots will improve both the growth and flavor of your carrots.
• Grapes benefit from chive's ability to repel aphids.
• Beets and carrots are good companion plants for chives. When chives are planted near carrots that have been allowed to bloom, it confuses both onion and carrot flies.
• Asparagus, beans, peas and spinach are all bad companion plants for chives.
• Cut chives about 2 inches above the soil. Before the plants flower, harvest from the outside edges of the clumps. After flowering, cut back the entire plant.