Happy New Year!

Did you make a resolution this year? If so, maybe it's to eat more veggies, to get outside, to move your body more, to learn something new, to do your small part to save the planet.

Maybe it's all of those things because you've decided 2022 is your year to start a garden (We're popping the bubbly to celebrate any and every garden success you find this year).

No matter what your resolution is, I've got a challenge for you. I'm on a mission to inspire everyone to grow six months of their own salad greens, no matter their garden setup. Make 2022 the year you say "bye bye" to packaged salad and "why, hello" to garden-fresh leaves.

Don't worry. I'm not just going to challenge you and then leave you hanging. We have everything you need to plant, grow, and harvest your own salad greens right here at Gardenary.

Challenge accepted? Keep reading!

When you buy spring mix or spinach at the store, your leaves have probably been treated with pre-emergent herbicides to prevent pests and disease; they've been cut and tossed into a non-reusable plastic bag or box, and trucked hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from California or Arizona. By the time you open your leafy greens to enjoy them, they might have been sitting on the shelf for days.

By growing our own salads when possible, we can do our small part for the planet and end up with fresher and better-tasting food.

There might be months when you still need to buy salad from the store, but for each salad bowl you harvest from your own garden, you're minimizing single-use plastic packaging, reducing food trucking and fuel consumption, and preventing food waste. Learn more about the benefits of going zero waste with your salad garden.

Salad greens are some of the easiest plants to grow in your own space. We're just growing these plants for their leaves, so we don't have to spend months tending them while waiting for heavy fruit to ripen. We don't have to support the stems by tying them to a trellis or stake, and we don't have to follow a complex fertilizing schedule.

All we really have to do is set them up in some good soil, keep them watered, and cover them with garden mesh to prevent pest infestations.

Plus, the root systems of salad greens are small, which means they don't need a large garden to thrive; in fact, you can even create your own productive salad garden in containers. Salad greens are mostly "cut and come again", which means you can literally cut from them and then come back again and again the next week.

For many of us, growing salad greens 12 months out of the year is not possible. However, most of us have cool seasons during which we can grow our own spinach, lettuce plants, cabbage, and more, and we all can be growing arugula the majority of the year.

You can start harvesting leaves from small plants like arugula, mizuna, spinach, and spring mix in as little as 40 days. Many people prefer the taste of baby leaves, so the sooner you cut, the better!

These salad plants are considered cut-and-come-again plants, meaning you can harvest the older and outer leaves, give the plant time to recover, and then return later to harvest some more.

Bigger salad plants like kale and swiss chard require more time to grow after being planted in your garden. But on the bright side, these plants can last several seasons, if not years, in your garden, meaning you'll be able to harvest from them again and again.

Don't grow your salad garden alone. We have all the resources you need to help you get started.

step one: decide what to grow

Explore our top ten salad greens to grow to help you get started. Prioritize leafy greens that you enjoy eating and then pick something new. When you grow your own leaves, you can experience so many different flavors than what's available at the store (which are those leaves that store a little longer).

step two: create your salad garden

Follow our simple steps to create a salad box in your own backyard, or learn how to create a salad garden in a container or pot. Salad gardening in a container is a great option for those with limited outdoor space.

step three: water, water, water

Salad greens are easy to tend overall, but they're also not plant-'em-and-forget-'em plants. Maintain a consistent watering schedule to get the best crispness and flavor from your leaves.

Salad greens make great starter plants for those new to gardening. Plus, every single time you grow a little of your own salad, you're making a huge difference in the world. Each piece of lettuce you harvest from your porch, patio, or salad box means less fuel, less packaging, and less waste for our country's food system.

If each of us commits to growing a little bit of our own food, we can make a huge difference in 2022. And every bite of homegrown greens tossed into an organic and gourmet salad bowl will taste so much better.

Won't you join me in seeing how many months of garden-fresh salad you can grow this year?

Happy salad growing!