Replanting a Salad Table

I have really enjoyed how easy it has been on my back growing and sharing the harvest from the salad table we built last year. Let me show you how I replanted it. I’m going to leave some of the plants in the salad table. Earlier this year I transplanted a couple of Angora Super Sweet heirloom tomatoes. The plants have started to cascade over the table edge, and the fruit are beginning to ripen. Now let’s get started replanting the other two sections of the table. I’ve already removed most of the previous season vegetables. These Toscano kale are removed carefully by cutting the root system with a serrated knife, but there’s no need to remove all the leftover roots. The growing mix needs to be loosened, and I could use my hands, but I like to use my lightweight battery cultivator. This makes it easy to fluff the container mix in the salad table. Because the salad table is shallow, I must be careful not to work too deep and damage the screen on the bottom of the table. I’m going to transplant a variety herbs that I started a few weeks ago. I’ve got flat leaf parsley, scallion, fennel cutting celery and salad carrot tops. My favorite planting tool, the Maxbit tool, makes great planting holes. The Maxbit forms a perfect size hole for simply dropping in a teaspoon of slow release fertilizer, followed by the transplants. You can get more information on How To Build a Salad Table by going to extension.msstate.edu. I’m horticulturist Gary Bachman and I’ll see you next time on Southern Gardening.