Now, to you this picture may not look like a lot, but to me it looks like fresh lettuce all summer long. It’s our first lettuce crop of the year and we’ll be growing lettuce all year long!
Growing lettuce is not a hard thing to do, although, this year he did use a seed starter kit.
Lettuce is an early crop, so you need to plant it before the first signs of spring This year Jeff planted about five different varieties and they make a very yummy salad all mixed together.
If you’re planting lettuce outside, you’ll need to use a cold frame for about six weeks before the last frost. The soil should be loosened for about 10 inches. Then use an inch of good compost or well-rotted manure.
Plant seeds 1/4 inch deep and 1 inch apart in rows or in your square foot garden. You can also just throw them into the bed if you don’t care for symmetry. When growing lettuce from seed, it should sprout in 2-8 days when your soil temp is between 55 and 75 degrees.
If you’re planting lettuce indoors with a seed starter kit, like we did, put them under fluorescent lights around the same time. Then put the containers outside when the lettuce is about three weeks old for a couple of days before planting. After planting give them some shade for a few days to get them used to the outside and get their roots stabilized; then you’re good to grow!
Some of our lettuce bolted early, so we just pulled it out – mostly because he had some spinach he wanted to mix in and needed the space! But if you wanted to grow more lettuce from seed next year, you can let the yellow flowers bloom until they turn into seedpods.
Our lettuce is planted under a tree in our back yard. Since our back yard is mostly filled with concrete because of the pool, he has to get creative when gardening. I really don’t know where the zucchini vines are going to go, probably over to the right a little. Its container gardening at its best!
He also has a trellis just to the right of this tree on the back fence where the pea plants will eventually climb. We’ll also have tomatoes soon too! I’ll post a picture of them when I get the first red one (they had to be planted in containers).
Oh, and did I mention the potatoes are also in. We had such good luck last year with our potato harvest that he planted double the amount this year. Again, they are under a tree, but who cares as long as we get to eat!
I’ll post more photos as the sun begins to shine and things start to bloom in our backyard Garden of Eden!
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Yes, flowers are nice, but sometimes you just need something a little more. A centerpiece that you can masterfully plant flowers around that draws the eye to a spot of color or a special place. That’s where outdoor garden décor comes into play.
Ahh, my yearly Lilac Bouquet has arrived. Jeff did a good job on it this year, it’s twice as big as last year’s
