We don’t grow many vegetables due to space constraints but in the coolness of a New England spring, leaf-lettuce is one we can depend on even in the heat of summer if we are careful. We have enjoyed the bounty of our lettuce crop for lunch and dinner for several weeks.
Lettuce is so easy to grow! We plant trays of lettuce as early as we can in as many places as we can. Some grow in full sun for cool weather picking and others grow in containers with annuals, both sunny and shady. They look pretty and we can harvest a few leaves at a time but never more than half the plant.
We planted as much as we could around the tomatoes. With dappled afternoon shade beneath the tomato plants, they’ve thrived during our current heat spell with temps in the 90’s. That’s NOT the weather lettuce likes.
Despite watering, some lettuce in full sun has begun to show signs of growing tall in the heat. So we harvested much of this lettuce before it bolted, ate a lot and shared a lot. A good amount of our organic lettuce was welcomed for tasty salads at two dinner parties we recently attended.
Some of the roots, we washed and replanted in good potting soil. They’re sending up new leaves and we hope to harvest a second crop, a first try for us. Wish us luck!
Okay, I need more info on washing the roots and replanting – please. 🙂 You will laugh when I say that we enjoy our lettuce so much, I had a beach umbrella positioned over it during this past week. 🙂
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It did need the shade this week. Horrible heat and humidity! My replanting is just an experiment I read about. I followed directions about washing the roots but I wonder if I even had to do that. The lettuce is beginning to sprout little leaves. The real test will be the taste.
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I can’t wait to hear about it.
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Just a few miles from the vast lettuce fields of the Salinas Valley, the weather is typically too warm for lettuce. I do not even bother trying to grow heads of lettuce, although I do put out some seed so my neighbor can get those trendy baby greens in autumn and early spring. This year, while everyone else around us is contending with unnatural warmth, the weather has been rather mild here. The baby greens grew into small heads of lettuce, and there are even a few left out there! I suppose they will be done now that it is finally getting warm, but I do not really know.
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You’re a good neighbor! I share but there’s a limit!!
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Oh, I don’t share! She takes them ALL. I put them out in here yard. I am none too keen on those things. I get plenty of other greens.
Although the terrain is flat, the geology below the surface is quite variable. The Shannon Fault is right under another neighbors’ house, so we have different sorts of soil types shuffled but not mixed all in the same spot. My garden grew what likes the well drained gravely soil, and my neighbor’s garden grows what prefers the richer and more dense soil. Fruit trees are happier in my garden (although I put the Concord grapes in her garden). Her garden does well with the lettuces and root vegetables. Now that I no longer live there we must sadly do without my half of the garden, but hers is still somewhat productive.
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Mention of the “Shannon Fault right under another neighbor’s house” jumps out here. 😳
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Well, I do not think that the house would have been built on top of it if anyone knew it was there at the time. The Shannon Fault continues to the west and goes right under the only dam in town. It is a very minor fault. They are common. The only problem we ever had with it was when the subterranean gas and water pipes broke there during the Loma Prieta Earthquake. The foundation of the home is somehow intact! The Shannon Fault did not move, but just shook more on one side than on the other. The minor faults are what inhibits the dispersion of the shock, so that it does not continue to Denver.
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Good luck with the second crop! I love how you plant your lettuce underneath your tomato plants, using the shade of one for the benefit of the other. I also am very interested by your second photo: what is that gorgeous purple-leafed plant sitting next to your lettuce head?
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If I remember correctly, it is the Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus), a perennial in zones 8-11, and an annual in our zone. Some have luck bringing it indoors for the winter in colder zones, something I am planning to try. It is stunning, yes?
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Stunning, absolutely. Thanks so much for the information regarding the Strobilanthes dyerianus! I love learning about plants from you.
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Yum!! That all looks fantastic. And man nothing beats home grown tomatoes!
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Our tomatoes are still green but we’ve rushed to the Farmers’ Market for the past two weeks where we can find fresh ripe tomatoes. Ours are always SLOW to ripen.
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