This topic contains 14 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by bushby 11 years, 5 months ago.
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Congratulations on a successful start!
We pick into buckets with no water – that would make them heavy – then mix leaves in a large butt of water as soon as they are all picked. I use the water to wash, mix and also revive any slightly limp leaves, which can be an issue on warm mornings with no dew (we pick early). After tthe wash I scoop handfuls of leaves and place them in crates with slats so moisture can drain away, and I spin them around too. Leaves are thus damp with moisture on all of them, but not too much and when bagged up there is very little visible at the bottom of each bag. On cool shelves in shops, there is condensation on the bags and my customers have got used to that, so it does not affect sales and they appreciate the leaves’ freshness and longevity.
I bought some horticultural crates from Sommer Alitex a long time ago, with lots of thin slats, anything which lets water out quite easily. I hope the farm shop is going well.
We’ve been picking into mushroom trays and immediately ‘watering’ from a watering can with a coarse rose to take the field heat out, then stacking them out of the sun/wind, sometimes covering with a small tarp. until they are rinsed in a big stainless steel sink (from freecycle)and then either put them in a wire shopping basket or back in the trays we do an impression of a salad spinner, occasionally showering passers-by! We do batches of up to 80 salad bags like that and people tell us our salads stay fresh for ages.Also we pick early like Charles said and in the tunnel try our best to water the day before picking, which is twice a week at the moment.
All the best,
DebbieHi, I have also been selling some salad bags over the summer after a course with Charles in the spring. I have been picking into large buckets with a few inches of water, immersing the stems to keep fresh while picking. Then I fully wash later with more water, then spin around in crates as mentioned here (idea gleaned from Charles at the course). I then lay all the leaves out in varieties and put together the bags with a fixed amount of each type of leaf.
This works fine, but is time consuming, and if I want to do more next year I think I need to speed the process up! Does the mixing process in the large tub of water ensure that a good blend of leaves ends up in each bag? I would be worried that someone ends up with a load of fennel and chervil and not much lettuce!
Charles, I assume you simply bag up handfuls of your washed and mixed leaves, is that correct or is there a subtler process whereby you ensure a good mixture of leaves in each bag?
Good that you are selling a nice mix of leaves, I would add two things. Picking would be quicker into bucket with no water, less weight to lug around, as I find that limp leaves revive nicely when put into the big tub (45 gallon water butt in my case, or 200 litres of fresh tap water) where I mix them carefully.
You are right that mixing is an art to be sure that everybody has some of everything although some of my 125g bags vary a little. Over many years I have learnt to add leaves to the water butt in stages, with the long feathery ones first, such as Red Frills, yellow endive and salad rocket, which I swill and mix gently to disassociate any clumps. Then I add the more rounded leaves such as lettuce, chicory and all the herbs at the end. Winter purslane is best put in last too as it damages when mixed too much.
By the end of a thorough mixing, using my arms up to the elbows and wearing pond gloves in winter, there is a pretty even mix; so when packing, I simply take handfuls for each bag, up to 80 bags an hour is possible, to give you an idea.
So mixing is an art and worth doing carefully and thoroughly. After a good mix, all leaves are full of moisture and keep well after being ‘spun’ and then bagged.
Would a commercial salad spinner be ok for the job, cost about 90-120 quid, but would last for many years, you can get them on Ebay or 3663,
I am something of a Luddite and am not sure if this expense is necessary when you can flick/spin/drain the water out of plastic crates. It is a choice.
Thanks for the advice, 80 bags an hour would be great- something to aim for. Do you have someone to help for this? I find it almost impossible to hold and fill a bag at the same time!
80 is on my own, it is not much more than one a minute. They are 10×12 inch, food grade polythene bags, quite thin but holding open nicely while I pop the leaves in, and after years of practice I manage almost the right amount with each fill.
Its good to know there are other small scale growers out there JLo. I have 0.2 acres, and supply mainly salad bags, and have also benefited from Charles’ course and books.
Like Charles, I harvest into buckets without water. I don’t leave them standing in water; I found that this makes some types of leaves deteriorate at the edges. They get a quick spray from the hosepipe, and are covered with a damp tea towel.
Like bushby, I found bagging up time consuming, initially, as i wanted to ensure an even mix. What works best for me now is between what bushby does and what Charles does. I group leaves by size and strength of flavour (large: lettuce; medium: brassica, spinach etc; small: purslane, herbs, etc), mixing the different types within a group, in water. I bag the larger leaves first then the rest. I used to add herbs to the bags last as I didn’t have many and would have risked someone missing out on the “high notes”. Now I have more, the small and medium leaves get mixed together.
I take a break from harvesting to wash the first group, before harvesting the rest. Its nice to stand up part way through the morning! As custom picked up I got tendon injuries from all the fine movements you need for harvesting. So its good to exercise different muscles periodically! Its good to get a helper for harvesting too!
I think your method, Charles, of mixing everything then bagging would be more efficient. I shall try it when i am sure i have enough of the most flavoursome leaves to distribute well. With your advice on what order to put the leaves in it should be easier – good tip for the feathery leaves to stop them sticking together. You must have clean leaves! I have to rinse twice to remove bits of straw left in the compost, spiders, etc, and at the moment – splashes of muddy soil, and slugs which hide under the lambs lettuce! I use two large tub trugs and a seive to remove the debris between batches.
To drain the leaves I use a commercial salad spinner (luckily only cost me £5 plus postage from ebay). They sometimes come up at local auctions. It probably takes a bit longer than the basket method but it does allow you to collect the water.
Diverging a bit from the thread, but worth mentioning, it’s worth taking time to note the weight and time taken to harvest each type of leaf. You see which leaves pay their way, and which are a too much of a faff to put in in large quantities. It also allows you to see the yield of each bed and learn what cultivation methods work best, and identify what you need more of next year. The difference I noticed between neighbouring beds of lettuce after adding manure to the surface of one but not the other, following Charles’ course was striking. You can also compare different seasons.
i’m struggling to picture how you spin the leaves in the crates? please could anyone describe this to me? thanks
Well Ashleigh I hold the crate in two hands and spin around myself, as fast as possible, first one way then the other – this pic may help, most of the water flies out of the bottom and then I stack the crates at 45 degrees for remaining loose water to drain away after about twenty minutes.
Incidentally I am still waiting for my web host to change things so that any of you can upload pics.
haha, thank you for enlightening me. i look forward to dizzy times next year when we start on our salads
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