Lettuce Success and Other Ramblings

Our lettuce experiment turned out to be a success. I was told by multiple people on gardening forums that you cannot grow non-bitter lettuce in the heat of the summer, even in the shade. I will concede the fact that this summer has been pretty mild as far as high temps are concerned, we will see what September brings. I have never been able to grow non-bitter lettuce in August before, but this shade grown lettuce is delicious!

The trick is to keep it watered and keep it out of direct sunlight. This area gets dappled sunlight in the morning and at the end of the day. Most of the day these beds lay under the shady protection of two massive oak trees. You have to harvest the lettuce very young so it doesn't go bitter.

 

We selected heat tolerant varieties for this experiment. Lettuce seed is so cheap you can sprinkle a handful of seed every time you harvest your lettuce. I want to put in more lettuce beds on the deck. At our consumption rates, these beds only supply about two salads each a week.

I have seen many of these spiders around this year, way more than I have seen since we bought the house around three years ago. I guess it is my fault for playing Barry White albums on repeat in the garage. This scary looking spider is in the orb-weaver family (Araneidae) and is called the Spined Micrathena (Micrathena gracilis). It is also known as the "CD spider" due to its habit of building webs that look like CD's hanging from trees in the woods. Despite its menacing appearance, it is completely harmless to humans. 

This species is called the "Eastern Needy Tomato Gobbler" (daralis complainiface). This garden pest will consume every ripe tomato in the garden if you do not take adequate steps to remove it. The most effective methods I have found are luring it away with dark chocolate or telling it there is a buy one get one free sale at Earth Fare. If the tomato gobbler ever feels threatened, it will sit down on the ground and cry. Be careful when approaching this creature, its bite has been known to hurt a little bit and it will try to get you to take it out for ice cream.

Let Us Experiment

 This is a story of finding uses for unwanted items or "trash". My future Grandfather-in-law's neighbor gets large wooden boxes used to ship equipment. I saw one in his driveway on a visit and commented on how I thought they were cool and useful. So unknown to me, Dara's Grandfather Ron asked his neighbor what he did with them. Apparently he just gets rid of them, so Ron asked him to save them for me. I have picked up three so far and more are to come.

 

 I drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom of two of the boxes to use as planters.I am not sure what was shipped in these containers but the wood is not pressure treated and they are well built. I may make one into a sandbox for my nephew.

I laid a layer of newspaper down to keep the soil from clogging up the holes I drilled. I made a mixture of composted manure and peat moss. Normally I put sand in my soil mixes but I don't want sand on what I am growing. I filled the boxes with about two inches of soil.

Dara picked a mix of lettuce seed that does well in the summer heat and mixed them up together. We always have trouble growing lettuce in the main garden. It always gets bitter and goes to bolt too fast. I wanted to see how it does on our deck under our large oak trees. It will get some sun, but mostly it will be in shade and dappled light.

Dara sprinkle the two boxes with the lettuce seed. I put a thin layer of soil on after that and watered it in really good. We plan on eating the lettuce when it is really young so it doesn't have a chance to get bitter in the heat. As soon as we harvest a part of a box we will replant it.

Spring mix is so expensive and lettuce seed is so cheap, we need to find a way to grow our own that is not bitter. We eat a lot of salads so, I hope the lettuce does well in this location. If this doesn't work out, at least the beds will be ready to plant in the fall. I will be able to put some plastic over these to extend the growing season into the winter.

Another use for the boxes. Turned upside down, this box is the perfect size to hold our canoe off the ground. I am sure I will find more uses for these as I get more. I may do an outdoor worm bin that I can harvest in the fall before the freeze comes.