Yeah, the guide book sucks
I suppose Hands of Time would work on the salads, but it's always seemed to me to be a waste of mana; for the same cost, you could toss an Icestorm at the things!
What
is really fun, if you're not big on the Flamedrop solution, is to Petrify them (Lvl 6 Stone). Then you can move them around like big vegetarian chess pieces all you like!