Grow Your Own Smoky & Spicy Match Day Salad Bowl

It’s not long now until the World Cup kicks off, but the good news is that there’s still time to grow something tasty from seed. Although many fruits and vegetables take quite a while to produce something edible, salad leaves don’t generally need too long to grow – around 4 weeks before you can harvest.

Growing a salad for the World Cup might not sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but we promise that it’s more than enjoyable, and tastier than you might expect. If you get sowing now, you’ll be picking leaves you’ve grown yourself in time for the World Cup final.

Find out how to grow your own salad below, and scroll down to discover our smoky, spicy summer salad bowl recipe.

Why you should #GrowYourself

Before we get to the salad, let’s talk about the benefits of growing your own food. Not only is it much cheaper than buying from the supermarket, but it’s so much more rewarding. You can’t beat the freshness and flavour of homegrown ingredients, or the satisfaction of knowing you’ve done it yourself.

Watching your team in a World Cup match can feel incredibly stressful and tense. In fact, it was reported that during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, cardiac emergencies in the greater Munich area were 2.66 times higher on days the German team played.

That’s where gardening comes in. It gets you outside in the fresh air with your hands in the dirt, which is so beneficial for your mental health and overall wellbeing. Gardening forces us to slow down and take a breath, to be present in the moment, and leave the stress of daily life at the door when we step into our gardens. It’s just a shame that players can’t do a spot of mulching during penalty shootouts – it might calm them down a bit.

Plus, regularly sowing salad leaves (every two to three weeks) means a continuous supply throughout the summer, not just for the World Cup!

Create the salad base

The first step is to make sure you’ve got quality seeds. Here at Fothergill’s, our seeds are tried and tested in our trial field, so you can sow with confidence. You can’t have a salad without salad leaves, and there’s no reason why you can’t start building flavours at this stage.

There’s a huge variety to choose from, and for this smoky, spicy salad, why not try one of these mixed packs:

Mesclun mix 
For peppery, earthy, and nutty flavours with subtle aromatic notes 

Oriental mix 
For mild, earthy, and slightly sweet flavours with sharp, peppery, and slightly bitter notes 

Mild mix 
For peppery, earthy, nutty, and lemony flavours with subtle aromatic notes 

Spicy mix 
For peppery, earthy, and slightly spicy flavours

Easy to grow and with minimal effort, all these varieties are perfect for growing in containers, patio pots, or even window boxes if you don’t have a lot of free space or you’re working with smaller, sunny spaces. 

Add another dimension with rocket

Wild 
A popular variety with tangy and spicy leaves  

Buzz (all year round) 
Fast growing with a tangy and peppery flavour 

Runway 
Easy growing baby leaves with tangy, peppery flavours and no bitterness 

Mixture 
Varying degrees of ‘bite’ and different shape leaves 

Sow thinly and directly into finely prepared, pre-watered, and fertile soil. Sowing depth differs depending on the variety. 

Add some crunch with radishes

French Breakfast 
The most popular variety for being fresh and crisp, with a mild, earthy and peppery flavour 

Bright Lights 
Crisp and tasty, and a colourful addition to any salad 

Scarlet Globe 
Juicy, crisp and mild, easy and fast growing 

Sparkler 3 
Mildly sweet and peppery in flavour

Radishes harvested after 4 – 6 weeks will be on the smaller side but will still add that fresh crunch to your salads. Sow thinly and directly into finely prepared, pre-watered, and fertile soil, 1.5cm deep. 

Add any other vegetables you might have ready for harvest to suit your own tastes, such as tomatoes, sweet peppers, and spring onions. 

Tie it all together with salad dressing

Mix plain Greek yoghurt with crushed garlic and smoked paprika for a quick and easy salad dressing. Swap the garlic with black garlic for a deeper, sweeter and slightly smokier flavour, or add a teaspoon of lemon juice for a fresh, zesty twist.

Grow your own Match Day salads

And there you have it: a homegrown smoky and spicy summer salad bowl, the perfect addition to your Match Day barbecues.

If you feel inspired to grow your own salads, don’t forget to tag us on social media @fothergillsuk so we can see your homegrown leaves and veggies. We love to see what you grow with our seeds!