One more question....
I read on another post here to do successive plantings of lettuce as young plants will be more resistant to bolting once the heat of summer arrives. Is this true for spinach and collards as well?
Thanks for your help!

Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:49 pm
Tue Jan 03, 2012 11:50 pm
Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:26 am
Wed Jan 04, 2012 6:13 pm
Wed Jan 04, 2012 6:30 pm
digitS' wrote:Pam, I start lettuce in containers in the backyard and did no direct sowing of lettuce seed in the garden the last few years. The seedlings are set out in little "clumps" of 4 or 5 plants. Sometimes, they are harvested that way - 4 or 5 at a time.
Only romaine works for me as a cut-&-come-again. This is quite an arid part of the world and it is kind of a tuff climate for lettuce. Keeping the seedlings in containers until setting out gives me the opportunity to find the best location in the backyard - move them around, day to day. I'll try full-sun early and mostly afternoon shade later in the season but once they are in the garden, they have to tuff it out wherever they are plunked in.
I seem to remember growing collards once but it was so many years ago, I don't remember much about them. I grow guy lon (kai lan) an Asian green that is very similar, probably. It only does real well when it grows in a plastic tunnel early in the season. I did try it as a fall crop last year and it grew okay. Guy lon transplants easily, maybe collards does also.
Spinach can be sown very, very early. Maybe 1 more sowing about 3 weeks later and that will be it for me. It just bolts too quickly to seed when sown too close to hot weather. Even a shady location doesn't allow spinach to grow for very long. I don't remember ever trying to transplant it.
I hope this is a little bit of help to you.
Steve