Lettuce

[Dixana]

DD-what's wrong with french dressing?? It's yummy!

Maybe I'll plant just a little bit of Kale and see how we like it.

[Bobberman]

I find that most companies now started to get smart and offer a lettuce blend! There are many blends! I like to get a blend with early and a late lettuce mixed so when the early is about done the semi head is getting tender! Get a blend with at least 6 mixes of lettuce! I also start a early bed of lettuce by placing seens in a bag of potting soil and putting it in the house for 3 days then dumping the lettuce soil mix in severa rows or a bed. The bed is made with some manure or blood meal 10 inches under the bed. I cover the bed with clear plastic for about a week and punch a few pencil holes in the plastic so it does not get too hot!. You will have the nicest lettuce. Don't use chicken fresh manure or your lettuce will be bitter from to much nitrogen in the manure! I also suggest to add some carrots and a few radishes to the mix I even add a few beets and broccoli. When the bed of lettuce is done you wil have los of carrots and as the bed matures you can replant the broccoli! The beets work great because you can eat the tops in the salad similar to swss chart but milder! The radish just help shade the lettuce so it does not bolt and also loosen the soil for the carrots.! Gardening is FUN when you put your mind too it!

[GardenStream]

I grow my lettuce in containers rather than in the garden. I have 4 or 5 black plastic containers that were originally from trees and they're around 7 gallons. I also open up my cold frame and use that as another lettuce growing area. I like the leaf lettuces because they're fast and easy to grow.

Last year I grew:
Black Seeded Simpson
Chadwick's Rodan
Cracoviensis
Corn Salad and Dutch
Flame
Rubin
Sunset


I also have lambs quarters and purslane growing wild. I love to have a colorful mixed salad. We are a family of 4 and eat salads most days in the spring and fall.

Also, if you let one or two lettuce plants go to seed you'll have lettuce everywhere. I have lettuce growing in the driveway, in the cracks of my brick walkway and in my flower beds.

[Halfway]

I notice that in this year's crop (no pun intended) of seed catalogs, almost half have lettuce mixes up front.

Indoor gardening is getting a lot of attention as of late as well as overall gardening to put food on the table.

With the economy in a tail spin (despite the media's attempt at otherwise), and ALL food production factors getting more expensive, this is the trend and will steadily grow.

We are enjoying continuous lettuce, especially those that are much more nutritious than we find at the supermarket.

I like the idea of containers Gardenstream!! Already added that to plans sheets!!

[GardenStream]

I like the idea of containers Gardenstream!! Already added that to plans sheets!!

I forgot to tell you why I do lettuce in containers. My deck is 99% full sun. I like the containers because I can move them around as the weather gets warmer. They're on the deck in full sun in early spring. Then, I move them over to the one area that's mostly shade as it gets more toward summer. Then, I can bring one or two inside in the winter and put them under my grow lights. I also stagger the containers, I plant one one week and another a week later, etc... That helps me to keep lettuce almost all of the time. When the lettuce starts to bolt, I pull the plants and plant more.

I'm also really lazy and like to walk out the sliding glass door to pick my lettuce. The garden is a good 100 feet away from my kitchen door.