Lettuce that’s head and shoulders above the rest
Let us talk about lettuce.
The truth is, I’ve wimped out. I no longer grow any. The likes of Lactuca sativa got banished from my garden, because infuriating intruders kept beating me to the punch.
Caterpillars, earwigs, rabbits, groundhogs, birds, deer . . . They all dropped by. Plus, of course, slugs, scores of those slithery, slimy horrors that sneak in after dark. And chomp, chomp. The next morning, fantasies of fresh salad fixings vanished — faster than ice cream in a heat wave.
There was also the bothersome business of bolting. Just about every lettuce variety I tried went whoosh, like a rocket into space, if the temperature soared suddenly in spring (which unfortunately happens a lot, in our yo-yo climate).
And although we home gardeners love to kid ourselves that our misshapen, nibbled, less-than-perfect produce is still fine to eat, (because hey, didn’t we grow it organically, from non-GMO seeds?) some just isn’t. Elongated stalks and pasttheir-prime leaves of a bolted lettuce head taste so bitter, I once spat them out at the dining table.
Yet I love lettuce. And like everyone, I worry about questionable residues left behind on specimens sold at the supermarket. So good news: there’s a new Canadian outfit that produces such tasty, fresh, totally organic lettuce, I have no qualms about not growing my own anymore.
Greenbelt Microgreens came on the scene about a year ago, started by a former landscaper named Ian Adamson. And he’s sure done his homework. Eco-conscious himself, he decided to figure out exactly what modern consumers would like to see in salad greens — and the results certainly push all the right buttons.
Greenbelt’s lettuces (plus pea greens and a variety of microgreens) are grown locally in greenhouses, like so much of what we eat today. Yet they’re not hydroponically raised, with chemical nutrients added to the water around the roots. Instead, these lettuces develop in their own individual small pots filled with soil — just like out in the garden. Does that make flavour better? I think so.
There’s more: the pots, a Canadian invention, are made from the same kind of cardboard as egg cartons, so we can compost them after use. Then the soil: it’s a certified organic mix, formulated especially for Greenbelt, of 30-per-cent quality compost, plus all kinds of good stuff — seaweed, shrimp casings, coir, manure (from organically fed dairy cows in Quebec), and a bit of perlite and vermiculite. It’s compostable too. And when the pots get watered, they receive a further boost from the fertilizer organic gardeners love: fish emulsion.
“Everything about our production is organic, but the soil has been the key to everything,” Adamson says. “You grow a good product in quality soil, it lasts better, it has a longer shelf life and it isn’t bothered by bugs.”
In fact, Greenbelt’s greenhouses, in Gormley and Lynden, near Brantford, Ont., don’t see a whiff of any kind of pesticide. “So far, pests haven’t been a problem,” Adamson adds with a satisfied grin.
Most greenhouses now recycle all their water — as does Greenbelt. They’ve also incorporated other energy-saving features, including a kind of glass that lets UV rays get through.
“Red lettuce leaves won’t turn red without UV,” he explains, “and greenhouse roofs block out most of it. But we’ve modified ours so that the UV can get in, when the plants need it.”
Greenbelt is the first company in North America to use this technology, which comes from Germany.
But I’m forgetting the esthetics. Greenbelt lettuces — a trio of different kinds poking out of each pot — look so cute, they’re irresistible. A pot costs $4.99. Clamshell packs containing several different kinds of microgreens are either $4.99 or $7.99. That’s surely not exorbitant. So try them. The Man in my Life loves putting the microgreens into a sandwich. “Easier than opening a chocolate bar,” he exults. “And they’re so fresh.”
Greenbelt’s eco-friendly salad fixings have recently won an Ontario Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence — as well they should. Look for them at Longos, Metro, Fiesta Farms and other locations. More stores are signing on. For a complete list, go to: greenbeltmicrogreens.ca. soniaday.com