Wednesday, June 10, 2009

spring lettuce

green bibb lettuce
prizehead bibb lettuce

Fresh lettuce is my favorite thing from the garden! I have my last head of supermarket lettuce in my fridge now and when its gone - I'll start picking real garden lettuce. I'm so excited. I have a patch of Bibb, Boston and Prizehead ready to go.

I'd like to remember to plant more this week. I'm wondering if its good timing to plant my summer crisp, a heat resistant variety. I think I will.

11 comments:

Cynthia Sanders said...

LOVELY!!

I am not having good luck with lettuce at all :( It took over a month for anything to start popping up, and when it finally did, the birds are attacking it! I sowed seeds in mid-April and they're still only have 3-4 small leaves each. I feel like a lettuce failure. I've planted a couple more different varieties though so I'm hoping these will grow better. Maybe I'm just being impatient?

Yours really do look delicious though :)

Toni said...

Your lettuce looks so good!

I hope to harvest enough lettuce on Sunday for a family gathering... my birthday!!!

I'm hoping to find a way to grow it all season... well... August may be difficult...

Happyflower said...

beautiful lettuce!

TeresaNoelleRoberts said...

You're so patient! I start harvesting mine by the cut-and-regrow method as soon as it's about 2 inches tall. I never get the pretty display you do, but I don't have to wait for my lettuce either, and I'm impatient.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! I've been having salads 3 times a week for a few weeks now. I succession planted (3 separate sowings) but the later ones caught right up to the early ones and now everything is ready at the same time. I think I might be turning green! I prefer the romaine varieties, which I pull all at once, so it will be gone soon, I fear. I'm thinking about finding a spot somewhere shady to try for some in the summer.

Karen said...

Gumshoe - my shady spot which I hope will work will be under my cuke and pea trellises.

Karen in DE

GardenerGirl said...

Oh, what gorgeous lettuce! Those are really attractive little beds, too.

I planted late, so my lettuce is still struggling a bit, but I'll probably begin harvesting in 2-3 weeks. I think I thinned mine too early, so I didn't get to choose the best plants and I didn't get my baby greens for the year. :(

kathy said...

Once I start eating my lettuce, I won't want to buy any more lettuce. So I try to wait til the heads are big and crowded. Then I go for it!

Try summer crisp (or Batavian) varieties for mid summer lettuce. These are ore heatresistant. Probably good to get them in now.

I like to sow my lettuce in pots, even in the summer. I baby the seedlings inside or on my patio, and then transplant when they have a few leaves. Then they don't need to be thinned. .... Just another approach to sowing.

Laura said...

Usually when I go to the doctor he tells me "You need to do something about your weight". Yesterday he told me, "Hey, you're getting your weight down." I told him that the garden is finally producing!

Maryogim said...

we've eaten all of the butter crunch lettuce out of our garden and all of the romaine except one head.
there were little slugs on the head, but over all no damage.
three heads of romaine just wilted and died. i'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on why?
my plot is small and have never had bug issues
sowed some mesclun seeds today - should be shaded by the cukes and zucchini nearby.

Siren said...

that lettuce is so beautiful it takes my breath away. I could only hope to have lettuce like that.

I got a great row of mesclun greens, but my bibb lettuce is piddly (only a spindly inch or two tall per plant, just not growing at all), the arugula seems to be actually shrinking now, and the row of sorrel is doing fine.

I harvested some of the mesclun now, but was really looking forward to a nice showing like you have - that's why i dedicated four rows of the garden to greens!!

I guess I will try different varieties next year or even this year. I thought it liked shade so I put it in the less sunny part of the garden.