Succession Planting

Elisabeth — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:20:00 GMT

During last Sunday's sermon, the minister at my church was waxing lyrical about planting garden peas. He had just put in his peas (after consulting me about whether it was too early), and based a whole sermon on the act of faith required to throw something "dead" in the ground and wait for it to sprout. The sermon was uplifting, but I kept thinking to myself, "Tell him about succession planting."

Succession planting, for those who have never tried it, means sowing seeds of the same crop at regular intervals so that the harvest continues over a relatively long period of time. You can do this with the various varieties of spring peas, as well salad greens.

It works like this--Sow a row of peas or lettuce or cool-season salad greens. Wait a week or so until you see some growth, then sow another row in front (or in back or on the side) of the first row. Do this over several weeks and you will prolong the pleasure of those edible plants.

Of course there is a limit. If it starts to get hot and sticky in your part of the world by June 15th, for example, time your sowing so that the last seeds that you plant will come to maturity around that date. Take a look at the package, which should give you information on how long the seeds take to grow to maturity.

Lettuce Start

Elisabeth — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:21:00 GMT

My life has become extremely complicated now that I have decided to grow lettuce.

My master plan for my 2008 garden is to include more edible plants among my ornamentals. Since I love fresh lettuce, it makes sense to include it in my plans. Now I'm trying to choose varieties and I've realized that the universe of lettuce is vast.

The realities of the climate here in the Middle Atlantic region dictate multiple periods of hot humid weather in the spring and summer. Most lettuces give up by the time summer's dog days roll around, but I need to pick varieties that won't bolt and turn bitter at the first sign of higher temperatures.

Paging through catalogs and peering at websites, I notice 'Summertime', an iceberg-type that is billed as being a good hot weather performer. My family loves Romaine, so I may also consider the Israeli-bred 'Jericho', which can take heat, if not humidity.

Leaf lettuce makes excellent salads, and I can choose 'Nevada Batavian', if I want a green-leafed variety or the intoxicatingly named 'Merlot Batavian', which has ruby-red leaves and sweet flavor. Since I am a native of Batavia, NY, I feel a strong affinity for these varieties, which, like my hometown, were probably named after the Indonesian city now known as Jakarta.

Oakleaf lettuce, with its delicate lobed leaves, is wonderful when harvested young. 'Danyelle Red Oakleaf' is a bolt-resistant variety.

I am sure that as I investigate further, I will find even more heat tolerant lettuces, not to mention all kinds of other salad greens.

Now I just have to find varieties that are resistant to rabbits, groundhogs and raccoons.

Growing Wise : lettuce

Succession Planting

Lettuce Start