Greens and Lettuces in Kiddie Swimming Pool

[TheDante]

Karen, how old are you if I may ask? I thought you had to be very young to harvest that huge, beautiful container of lettuce. I totally appreciate (and admire) those greens as that is a lot of work if you are clipping leaf by leaf to harvest over a long period of time.
Despite my age (and decrepitude ) I still love to experiment. And I ,particularly, like to read all I can on historical vegetable gardening methods.
I just wish I could lessen the workload of the TOMATOES -i.e. planting WAY TOO MANY despite the earnest resolutions
to cut back.

psssst Elaine... check PM.. think it is still in your IN BOX unless it is being ´proof read´? I have no idea if that happens before it ´swooshes´ to the receiver

Nooooooooooooooooo… no scissors, Charles would call it blasphemy! Pick them leaf by leaf! It is tricky from the 1st and 2nd pickings. And from then on, as the leaves start to grow higher up the stem, it is a lot easier to pick.

(still showing in my OutBox)

[MissS]

Hmm, you sound like a cougar/shark to me...

[MsCowpea]

Karen, Just saw the question about the pics. You could just start a thread and repost them and then if that is too much for the sites capabilities they could handle as necessary.

[TheDante]

Hmm, you sound like a cougar/shark to me...

oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…. just overly enthusiastic! peeps intimidate me

however, if the need arises to speak out... then…

[TheDante]

Karen, Just saw the question about the pics. You could just start a thread and repost them and then if that is too much for the sites capabilities they could handle as necessary.

Ok will do. Don´t wanna gate crash into the lettuce party room … gimme a few days and will repost again.

Regarding age, I know exactly what you mean… it can be frustrating for me at times. Like the saying goes ´the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak´.

Recalling my days when I was doing my practical working at a fruit farm and we had to pick strawberries at dawn. I was a ´mature´ student amongst the YOUNGER work and travel backpackers! I had to push myself extra hard to keep up and catch up! And it doesn´t help that I am much shorter and smaller than most of these young ones. 15 pounds of strawbs in each hand. Am sooooooooooo glad those days are over!

[MissS]

The PM is still in your outbox because the recipient has not read it. That way you know if they have read it or not. Once read it will no longer show in your outbox.

[TheDante]

This is the very same bed (left side) in the polytunnel in October. And compare it to now (in the pics before this). The miner´s lettuce invaded the whole bed!

cheers MissS =)

20191013_162715.jpg

[Tinkerbell]

Your greenhouse is just wonderful. I'm so sorry about the minors. Do you do anything to control them?

[TheDante]

Your greenhouse is just wonderful. I'm so sorry about the minors. Do you do anything to control them?

thank you Tinkerbell =) The miner´s lettuce invasion doesn´t bother me. I would be more bothered if nothing grows. I can still harvest them as salads over the winter period. And one of our neighbours loves them too. They will end up in our compost heap when it is time to prepare the beds for the toms. I just need to make sure that they don´t go to seed.

[SusieQ]

The PM is still in your outbox because the recipient has not read it. That way you know if they have read it or not. Once read it will no longer show in your outbox.

Thanks for that tid-bit of information. I thought I was doing something wrong. LOL

[AZGardener]

Once we had to be away for a few days to visit my dad who had taken ill and came back home… and this was how much I had to harvest … a 210 litre (48 gallons?) rainwater barrel!

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That is quite a beautiful harvest Karen.

[AZGardener]

AZ. since you already have the pool you might give it a try. Double check you have enough holes. And your weather must be nice now. Hot weather is no good. Buy potting mix not heavy soil. Fertilizer is up to you but follow their directions. Depending on growth in a couple weeks you could supplement with liquid as well but
this may not be necessary. They grow really fast. I used 'homemade' compost because it is better but few people have. Be careful of Black Cow--I have no luck with that stuff in containers. I think compost could be an optional ingredient or try store bought. Just not too much.

Now you can use transplants or seeds.
SEEDS: try two packs of seeds per pool. That is a lot of seeds. (seed companies love me) They just don't put in that many in. I use a lot of seeds as I want to prevent or crowd out weeds which grow here FAST. You can use less next time. Sprinkle the seeds evenly over the mix. Take your potting mix and put it in an onion bag, you know one of those mesh bags, and sprinkle it very lightly over seeds maybe 1/8 inch. Gently water. Don't let it dry out.

TRANSPLANTS: plant like the pics.
I use both methods. I just bought some head lettuce 6 pack transplants at Lowes ( Bonnies). It will never form a head in south florida but it is a very tasty and crunchy lettuce.
Here's arugula. Now that is a lot of seeds. I would cut back next time. That many seeds/ plants could do Karen's/Dantes entire garden. I harvest between the baby leaf and full grown stage. Cut off what you need about 1 inch from the surface. Or pull entire thing. Regrowth-sometimes good/sometimes bad. If you do try it hope it works out.
Arugula in Swimming Pool.jpg

Thank you so much for taking the time to write up instructions. I have to grow lettuce in the winter, it's too hot here to grow late Spring until November. We don't have black cow locally, but have seen it on some YT garden channels. I used potting mix and some homemade compost. I had peppers in the kiddie pool before (experiment), so I freshened up the mix with some new and amendments (azomite, and sure start (eb stone organic plant food). I planted seeds in the sections and will use it more of a cut and come salad rather than individual heads. I have a raised bed with a few varieties that are eating size now. Cimmaron, Freckles, Butterhead, and Parris Island COS. Those are my faves. I planted a bunch in the kiddie pool as well as a salad bowl mix.
I really appreciate your detailed instructions, thanks again [mention]MsCowpea[/mention]

[AZGardener]

Here is my version of the lettuce kiddie pool planter thingy.
I sized the photo down, hope it's ok. Apologies for the poor lighting
and shadows.

kiddiepoollettuce.jpg

[MsCowpea]

Wow, that looks great. Very pretty. And you planted some wonderful varieties. Looking forward to seeing how it does.
Good luck. Since you are growing elsewhere I know you know to keep it moist waiting for seeds to sprout. Hope you get lots of salads.

I forgot to mention that brassicas cut for salads grow faster so they can sometimes overwhelm a lettuce next to it.
That’s why you never want a seed salad mix that has lettuces and brassicas together. I think Johnny’s explains all that.
Johnnys has GREAT salad mixes. they separate their lettuce mixes and greens mixes but you want to figure out when to plant each one so that they can be harvested together. Hope that makes sense. And I just tried a company called Adaptive Seeds -the shipping was very reasonable.

[Ginger2778]

Elaine have you tried High Mowing seeds? They have a few slow bolting Romaine varieties that look good, very reasonable price.
I found a kiddie pool on our dog walk a few days ago.

[MsCowpea]

I have tried High Mowing but I need the bigger packages. Can’t remember if they offer those.

Unbelievable, you found a pool! That is like me finding the matching sand box.

[Ginger2778]

I have tried High Mowing but I need the bigger packages. Can’t remember if they offer those.

Unbelievable, you found a pool! That is like me finding the matching sand box.

I just looked. They offer every size from 500 seeds to 500M.

[AZGardener]

Wow, that looks great. Very pretty. And you planted some wonderful varieties. Looking forward to seeing how it does.
Good luck. Since you are growing elsewhere I know you know to keep it moist waiting for seeds to sprout. Hope you get lots of salads.

I forgot to mention that brassicas cut for salads grow faster so they can sometimes overwhelm a lettuce next to it.
That’s why you never want a seed salad mix that has lettuces and brassicas together. I think Johnny’s explains all that.
Johnnys has GREAT salad mixes. they separate their lettuce mixes and greens mixes but you want to figure out when to plant each one so that they can be harvested together. Hope that makes sense. And I just tried a company called Adaptive Seeds -the shipping was very reasonable.

Yes, makes perfect sense. Thank you for your help[mention]MsCowpea[/mention] . I followed the examples posted here. Quite a few are sprouting. It's a fun project.

I don't think there are any brassicas in the salad bowl mix I used. If there is I'll thin them out. I don't think it will be too difficult because I planted them in one little section of the kiddie pool. This is an opportunity to grow several new to me varieties to see if I like them enough to plant again.
I appreciate your input and seed source recommendations. I've heard of both but have no personal experience, and will check them out. I'll post updates as the experiment/project goes along.

[MsCowpea]

Just a heads up if the lettuce doesn’t keep up with brassicas. Hopefully you won’t have to thin,
I found where Johnnys says brassicas are ready to harvest one week earlier. So when you are doing a salad mix you have to plant accordingly to have all the components ready.

https://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-lib ... ction.html

Now you are not doing the rows but a broadcasting of seeds. I seeded so heavily it was a good way to get little transplants
as well, but mainly I just cut.

Under HARVEST it talks about cut and come again and how it may regrow but not always.

When this works like it is supposed to it so fun to cut a salad and head back to the house.

[asaump]

Holy Smokes!!! I thought dealing with black flies was bad while putting out the garden. Sure glad I don't have those lizards running around in Maine.