首年種植油麥菜 First Year of Growing Indian Lettuce（附筆記）

　　有次去朋友家吃飯，剛好油麥菜收成不錯，我說帶一些去加餸，他說：「好啊！可惜沒有豆豉鯪魚。」我說：「我有！一併帶過來！」

　　One time I went to a friend’s house for dinner, and I promised to bring some of my home-grown Indian Lettuce since I was having a good harvest. My friend said, “Ah, what a shame we haven’t got any Black Bean Oil Fried Dace Fish at home!” I said, “No worries. I’ve got it. I’ll bring along one can!”

　　油麥菜和豆豉鯪魚簡直是形影不離的組合。我最初來英國見到中超有豆豉鯪魚，卻沒有太大購買意欲，因為買不到油麥菜，覺得買豆豉鯪魚實在沒有什麼意義。一直到後來自己種了油麥菜，才買豆豉鯪魚來「睇門口」！

　　Black Bean Oil Fried Dace Fish is just the perfect match for Indian Lettuce. However, back when I first came to the UK. I wasn’t exactly keen on buying it. I mean, what’s the point of getting the fish when you can’t find Indian Lettuce anywhere in the UK shops? It wasn’t until I started growing Indian Lettuce myself that I finally stocked up some Black Bean Oil Fried Dace Fish at home.

　　開始種油麥菜是因為看了Livology的影片，知道英國種得到油麥菜。我本着第一年種菜什麼都試試的精神開始種，在Amazon買了Indian Lettuce的種子（可惜現在那條link展示已經缺貨，不知何時有貨）。種子非常健康，油麥菜長得又大又濃密，每次把外圍的葉子摘下來吃，內圍的又長出來，供應源源不絕！後來我更發覺它長得越來越像萵筍（油麥菜和萵筍是近親），連中間的莖也可以吃！一菜兩吃，很划算！

　　I got into growing Indian Lettuce after watching a video by Livology, where they showed how it is totally doable in the UK. I was all in for trying everything in my first year of gardening, so I grabbed some seeds off Amazon (unfortunately, the link now shows the product is currently unavailable with no clue when it’s coming back). Those seeds were very healthy, giving me some robust plants that I could just keep harvesting by pinching off the outer leaves and letting the inner leaves grow back. And then I discovered you can eat the stems too. Two veggies in one, can’t beat that!

　　夏天種了一輪後，到了十一月，我再下了一次種，因為網上的種植老手都說油麥菜可以越冬，我想試試看，結果油麥菜發芽、長出菜苗後，停止了生長，整個冬天既沒長大，卻也沒有凋謝，我便由它繼續留在園圃，下雪時用透明雨傘給它擋一擋雪，結果在今年三月多，它再次生長起來，成為今年最早有得吃的自家菜之一！

　　I planted a batch in the summer and sowed another round of seeds in November after hearing from seasoned gardeners that Indian Lettuce can survive the winter. I wanted to give it a go. Those seedlings popped up and pretty much stopped growing through the winter – not getting any bigger, not dying either. I just left them out in the garden and protected them with a transparent umbrella when it snowed. Finally, they started growing again in March this year, becoming one of the earliest crops from my garden!

　　由於每次播種能持續收成，所以上次買來的種子剩下很多，我分了給朋友。這些朋友許多都是第一次種菜，故我為他們準備了一份筆記告知基本資料，在此分享給有興趣種油麥菜的讀者。

　　Since I could harvest a good amount of leaves from a few plants, I ended up with a bunch of seeds leftover. So, I shared them with my friends. As many of them were first-time gardeners, I also prepared a beginner’s guide for them (only in Chinese though).

　　下星期油麥菜夠大棵，可以收割了！這次我會用腐乳炒，試圖打破油麥菜必須配豆豉鯪魚這個宿命！

　　Next week, when the Indian Lettuce is big enough for harvest, I am stir-frying it with Fermented Tofu – time to shake things up and ditch the tradition of pairing it with Black Bean Oil Fried Dace Fish!