Lettuces

[TheDante]

Someone likes their lettuce TheDante! They are quite beautiful. Is it time to start lettuce now indoors? I have Red Sails seeds that I will be-trying this year.

cheers Roper =)))

Lettuces usually like cooler weather… they can be planted all year round, but there are certain varieties that can withstand heat better or prefer the the colder frosty temperatures.

And asian greens (e.g. pak choi, mizuna, mustard leaves) like cool weather. They will bolt for dear life if it is too hot!

Karen

[MsCowpea]

grown in and with ´natural and organic´ ways and methods.

What a great testament to organic methods and COMPOST!!

You must harvest whole heads as well to give to people? Correct? They must be thrilled.

[TheDante]

Karen, just found these. Completely amazing. You should do workshops at your place, ala Charles Dowding. Or make videos. I really like his because usually he puts all the stages of growth in one video so you see something from start to finish.

The one problem I have with doing transplants is the extreme heat and rains we are experiencing in Sept in South Florida.
Just when you want to start them. Even Oct is becoming hotter. The little seedlings aren’t compact like yours , they are extremely tall or lanky from the heat. If you wait it is easier. That is why it is just easier to direct sew by broadcasting when the weather is cooler. And then do a Cut and Come Again or just cut and reseed. Saves your back as you don’t pick leaf by leaf.

But your pics are so beautiful I wish I had started some in Nov. for fun. May do some now as soon it will be too late.
I am glad you showed the seeds
coming up because I wondered how the lettuces could be kept apart but I see they look very distinct from each other.

How long does it take , in your covered green house to go from seeding to a transplant ready to plant?

Hey Elaine =))) Thank you again for your wonderful, kind words as always. They were for you, as requested =)

And noooooooooooooooooooooo… I suffer from stage fright! Moreoever, no one speaks English where I am. And I think if I tried even to speak a decent sentence in German, many would likely run for dear life! Make videos? Nooooooooooooooooooooo... I wouldn´t have the nerves or the patience and am also terribly shy. Charles is already doing that. Moreover, he pioneered this. Am just an avid follower that has successfully ´replicated´ his methods with tweaks of my own.

Elaine, you can plant lettuces all year round. Just need to look for varieties that are suited for the heat and the cooler temperatures. It appears that Florida´s climate is a challenge. You need to relocate!

Lettuces, rocket (arugula), spinach, asian greens (e.g. pak choi, mizuna, mustard greens etc) generally prefer cooler temperatures. Try growing some lettuces in semi-shade or get some that is heat tolerant. I have seen the garden centers here selling varieties that are ´heat tolerant´, mostly are like the butterhead kinds. They can still be picked as come again too. I only grow rocket and asian greens early spring and from late Summer for the winter period. I don´t really bother sowing over summer because we have plenty of other veg to enjoy.

I checked my notes for 2016 to 2018. Usually it takes about 1-ish to 2 months that they will ready for planting out - i.e. counting from sowing seeds onwards to planting out onto the beds. It really also depends on the temperature. If it is relatively warm, they will grow really quick! And that is also one of the reasons why I never start my tomato sowing until March. Pointless to start so early. The seedlings will be chugging away sooooo slowly with cool temps. But as the weather warms up, they catch up really FAST! No need for extra lighting etc.

If you like, I can get some ´heat tolerant´ lettuce seeds and send them to you? No problem there =) Unless you would prefer to check if there are similar kinds. Let me know. Am just an email away babe! =)

[TheDante]

grown in and with ´natural and organic´ ways and methods.

What a great testament to organic methods and COMPOST!!

You must harvest whole heads as well to give to people? Correct? They must be thrilled.

EXACTLY! Organic methods - homemade compost and horse/cow manure… lol

No whole heads, only picked leaves. You will have a longgggggggggggggggggggggggg harvest =) About 2ish-3 months. If whole heads, just 1 time … lol and gone and done!

[TheDante]

Karen, just found these. Completely amazing.

isnt it? Mesmerizing! I could also look at them for hours. Just so pretty. And gawd forbid, I am not blowing my own horn. Just only my own observation from these results and outcome. =)

[TheDante]

Last but not least - lettuce and greens in the polytunnel for the winter period over the years- No artificial or synthetic fertilizers used.

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[MsCowpea]

Stunning. I have a thing for beautiful lettuces etc. and a gorgeous garden. Doesn’t everyone?

I can’t believe you pick all that leaf by leaf. You must have the strongest back on the planet. I would be begging you
to pull whole plants and yes they would be gone.

I am going to post about this method I learned from a woman who grows salad greens for a living in Seattle Washington. She did a DVD. It is not a professional production but I still loved it. She broadcasts. She also takes leftover greens and makes a ‘tea’ to fertilize. Her broadcasting technique looks different than what you used in your greenhouse.

But I know you are not going to give up your transplants the garden beds are like works of art.


(Almost forgot Dante, looks so comfy in his bed of straw. And thank you for the offer of seeds but I can get plenty here.
All sorts. Do you have that speckled type? It is really beautiful, crunchy , and tasty.)

[MissS]

This is a very beautiful thread. Thank you.

[PlainJane]

Wow, fantastic. Love your kitty, too!

[imp]

TheDante, it looks like you had some of the purple Bok Choy in some pictures. Very pretty greenhouse, too. Did you find any difference in taste with the purple Bok Choy? I have some that will hit the garden soon, and some really super tiny bok choy as well.

[TheDante]

TheDante, it looks like you had some of the purple Bok Choy in some pictures. Very pretty greenhouse, too. Did you find any difference in taste with the purple Bok Choy? I have some that will hit the garden soon, and some really super tiny bok choy as well.

Hey Imp, can´t say that there was really any difference in tastes. I think it is just purely aesthetics… lol... you ever tried growing this very pretty asian variety called Tatsoi. It looks like a rosette, fully grown. Sorry, it looks a tad blurry.

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[TheDante]

Stunning. I have a thing for beautiful lettuces etc. and a gorgeous garden. Doesn’t everyone?

I can’t believe you pick all that leaf by leaf. You must have the strongest back on the planet. I would be begging you
to pull whole plants and yes they would be gone.

But I know you are not going to give up your transplants the garden beds are like works of art.

(Almost forgot Dante, looks so comfy in his bed of straw. And thank you for the offer of seeds but I can get plenty here.
All sorts. Do you have that speckled type? It is really beautiful, crunchy , and tasty.)

Elaine, don´t think I could ever bring myself to just harvest the whole head. By picking as leaves, it still allows me to enjoy looking at them while still picking. And it also prolongs the harvest. The hubby too is soooo amazed how I could squat for so long and pick them! He would soooo suffer if he tried. But it can be back-breaking after a while and the knees too!

I know! He and The Joey loves sitting in that crate of straw. They look like chickens roosting! I will be uploading more pics and videos of my babies. Haven´t showcased the other 3 unlike I have with The Dante. They too deserve the attention.

I think I have grown easily about at least 30 different varieties of lettuces. The speckled ones I can think of is Freckles (a cos/romaine type), Mottistone (loose-leaf/Batavia) and Forellenschluß which is almost like Freckles.

My favourite is a Batavia variety called Saragossa which I discovered from Bingenheimer Seeds in 2016 - which I also introduced to Charles in the summer of 2016 and sent him seeds. His all-time favourite is Grenoble Red (Rouge Grenobloise), but he now likes Saragossa too and grows them for his salad leaves market. I grew Grenoble Red too, but when it gets too hot or if I didn´t water sufficiently, the tips of the leaves just turned to mush. Didn´t have this problem with Saragossa.

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[TheDante]

Wow, fantastic. Love your kitty, too!

Thanks PlainJane =))) we adore them to bits… we have 4 of them, all siblings, couldn´t bear to separate them.

I have my suspicions that you are a cat lover too

Just uploaded some endearing pics and vids of our adorable kids =)))

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The Dante almost was called The Olivia! We didn´t know boy cats had more than 2 nipples too! We would laugh ourselves silly whenever my dear hubby brings it up!

[MsCowpea]

Thanks for the tip about Saragossa . I found it here. Never ordered from them before but they look great. They have lettuces I have never seen elsewhere. Shipping was reasonable $5.
I also got the hot weather lettuce mix for cut and come again. And cool mix to compare.

https://www.adaptiveseeds.com/

I also am into cocktail size tomatoes. Want really sweet but not mild.
I ordered this. It is from Germany. Have you ever tried it? It says it is from a Biodynamic seed company.

“Zuckertraube is German for ‘sugar grape’ and it is sold in Germany as a cocktail tomato (!). Variety collected by The Seed Ambassadors Project from Bingenheimer Saatgut, a German biodynamic seed company.”

https://www.adaptiveseeds.com/product/v ... e-organic/

Finally, but don’t tell anyone. Ssshhhhh. I ordered a yellow pear—momentary lapse of sanity. I HATE Yellow Pear but the description says it is better than normal Yellow Pear. It is called Polen Yellow Pear. I swear this will be the last one I try.

[TheDante]

Thanks for the tip about Saragossa . I found it here. Never ordered from them before but they look great. They have lettuces I have never seen elsewhere. Shipping was reasonable $5.
I also got the hot weather lettuce mix for cut and come again. And cool mix to compare.

https://www.adaptiveseeds.com/

I also am into cocktail size tomatoes. Want really sweet but not mild.
I ordered this. It is from Germany. Have you ever tried it? It says it is from a Biodynamic seed company.

“Zuckertraube is German for ‘sugar grape’ and it is sold in Germany as a cocktail tomato (!). Variety collected by The Seed Ambassadors Project from Bingenheimer Saatgut, a German biodynamic seed company.”

https://www.adaptiveseeds.com/product/v ... e-organic/

Finally, but don’t tell anyone. Ssshhhhh. I ordered a yellow pear—momentary lapse of sanity. I HATE Yellow Pear but the description says it is better than normal Yellow Pear. It is called Polen Yellow Pear. I swear this will be the last one I try.

Elaine... you are soooo killing me! hahahahahahahah! shshshshshshshs! ok ok ok! our ´secret!´!

Blimey.... the world is truly small. I just checked on the link and was reeeeeeeeeeally surprised that they carry Saragossa!!! Yay!!! I am glad that you can try to grow them! I hope you will like them too and can grow them successfully in your region. I suspect it shouldn´t be a problem Adaptive Seeds got their seeds initially from Bingenheimer too! Bingenheimer seeds are pricey! But it is because they practice Biodynamics and Organics (Demeter certification).

https://www.adaptiveseeds.com/product/v ... a-organic/

I ordered a new batch of Saragossa this year because I suspect my batch of saved seeds of Saragossa got ´contaminated´ by other lettuce varieties. I know it rarely happens. But I grew a batch of different lettuce varieties close together (side by side) in the last few years and I wouldn´t be surprised if they had some kind orgy (I hope this word is safe to use!) going on! And I noticed there were slight changes in the Saragossa variety I grew last year.

I will likely grow it separately from the others this year and save their seeds coz I really really like this variety and want to keep them ´pure´ - true to type. We could always exchange notes too =)

I am soooooooooooo excited for you Elaine!

I grew Zuckertraube once (think was outdoors), I think it didn´t turn out properly. Maybe I will grow them again this year. I just checked that I still have leftover seeds from Bingenheimer. Yay! Let me know how yours turn out. Have you grown Sweet Aperitif? They are really nice. I think this variety is ´comparable´ to Sungold F1 (have you grown this too?) except that they are smaller and they are red, and they are not a hybrid I know I risk getting ´shot down´ for saying it is comparable to Sungold F1!

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[MsCowpea]

My big bed garden pretty much looks the same every year. But this year not as pretty as I decided to stagger the plantings more. So it is not completely full. Plus I only did one side. I have already pulled several rows and will replant.

Most years I did the whole thing like this. Broadcasting, using the technique I learned on DVD. Seed companies love me.
The bean ‘tower’ is two 5 foot tall cages tied together with zip ties.

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[MsCowpea]

This is my garden this week.

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[Nan6b]

My garden is covered in snow. I'm so jealous. That looks so inviting, and so tidy.

[Tormato]

The Bean Thief! If it was my garden, The Dante might never come back inside. It's usually 500+ bean plants a year. I'm a nutcase X 2, tomatoes and beans. Like tomatoes, I have no idea how many bean varieties I have.

[MsCowpea]

Tormato, what do you do with all those beans? You could supply Green Giant with beans with that many.