Greens Are In!

[gil1]

First salad of the year! Last night, we chowed on some spinach and arugula varieties as well as 14 different types of lettuce. Yum!

I've got about 250 plants out, which will keep feeding us and lots of friends and family through about January. I will cover the greens with clear plastic next fall/winter so they last a little longer.

 

[doubledownranch]

Lookin good Gil

 

[redblood]

awesome. ours have have barely broke the ground

 

[Crosshairy]

awesome. ours have have barely broke the ground

Ditto

The garden looks good!

 

[DaveB]

How do you stop the lettuce from bolting?

 

[gil1]

How do you stop the lettuce from bolting?

Some varieties are just going to bolt, but many won't if you cover them with a sheer white fabric (like a row cover) that shades out a little son but still lets air circulate and rain get in.

Same with cold. I cover it with a clear plastic in winter. Some varieties will taste bad after it gets cold - others will make it all the way through until the spring and still be delicious.

 

[OldFart]

We have some mustard greens just coming up. They were planted the last days of March. Not too bad for Aurora,CO. Now if we can only keep some feral cats fm using my raised beds for a litter box!
Thanks Ray

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

Nice

 

[LA man]

Lookin good

 

[Crosshairy]

I've never grown lettuce or cabbage before this year, so I'm pretty new to it. when picking leaves for eating, is there anything I need to be particular about? I probably have another week before I get stuff big enough to start picking.

Do you just pick the leaf at the base, and try not to pick too heavily from a single plant? Does it make any difference between cutting the leaves versus "tearing" them by hand?

It just occurred to me that I've grown lots of stuff, but I'm a total newbie about the lettuce/cabbages.

 

[gil1]

I've never grown lettuce or cabbage before this year, so I'm pretty new to it. when picking leaves for eating, is there anything I need to be particular about? I probably have another week before I get stuff big enough to start picking.

Do you just pick the leaf at the base, and try not to pick too heavily from a single plant? Does it make any difference between cutting the leaves versus "tearing" them by hand?

It just occurred to me that I've grown lots of stuff, but I'm a total newbie about the lettuce/cabbages.

If you grow bibb lettuce, you wait for it to mature, then just hack the whole thing at the dirt. The plant won't recover.

But most of the lettuces are designed to keep growing after you harvest. It's pretty much like you described. I pick leaves from the bottom and outside, never picking too much per plant to disturb anything. The middle/top will keep flowering. I find it easier to pinch/tear rather than cut. You just have to be careful not to pull the whole plant up when you do this.