- March 29, 2024
Loading
Now that summer is officially over as our daily temperatures fall below 90 degrees, we can consider the whole spectrum of crops that will thrive in these more bearable gardening conditions. A family of vegetables that we routinely consume are the leafy greens that compose what we loosely define as a salad. In the etymology of our diet, salads find their roots in the salted dressings applied to edible greens, eventually evolving into sauces and salsa. Add a sturdy protein or fruit and our salads become the meal ‘du jour’.
Let us do lettuce, a crop that will produce one of the greatest economic returns from the limited space of our residential farms. Important caveat: iceberg lettuce is not the variety we should grow in our gardens. It is the overwhelming choice only for industrial agricultural production, storage, shipping and food preparation in fast food franchises. Loose-leaf lettuces are much more tolerant of the vagaries in our weather and soil conditions. Leaf lettuce vitamin and mineral levels are multiple times greater than pale iceberg heads. And the freshness factor (24-36 hours) is especially important in the quality of the tender leaves for our meals.
Seeds for Lactuca sativa are clumsily small, requiring care in planting. Starting transplants guarantees better success than direct seeding to the great outdoors. Calculate your family’s consumption to determine a continuous planting routine. Lettuce plants maintain edibility longer in cool weather, but quickly bolt to seed and become bitter in hot, dry conditions. With these limitations in mind, space plants 4-6 inches apart and regularly supervise, plant and harvest more. Pick individual leaves for single salads or sandwiches. Harvest out whole heads by severing the stem at ground level. Immediately rinse in cool water bath doctored with a dollop of vinegar.
Oakleaf, Simpson and Romaine lettuces come in both red and green flavors, with dozens of named varieties available from seed catalogs. Hundreds of seeds come in a packet, so the expense of growing several types is irrelevant. Add Bibb, Buttercrunch and Summer Crisp (hot weather) to the palette, and the growing bed becomes a spectrum of beauty and nutrition.
We’re just getting started with building a garden salad. Numerous other plants lend themselves to ease of growth for the practicality of our efforts. Just by becoming familiar with an alternative to the grocery store will lead to all kinds of unintended consequences for feeding the crew. The interest generated by the attention given to lettuce, a foundation crop, will ensure that family members line up at dinner time for something formerly deemed too boring to eat.