"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Lett-uce Please Consider

It's a mystery to me.  

 
I'm STILL harvesting lettuce.  I started harvesting lettuce on April 15th.  (I had direct sowed on March 14th)  We've had plenty of hot weather but I see no sign of bolting yet.  We're forecast to hit 97 today and have been in the 90's more or less for the past 2 weeks.



Now I'm not complaining, rather I'd like to figure out what I did, so I can do it again.  (grin) 

Besides planting varieties that were more heat tolerant, I also planted on the farthest "east" side of the bed and put potatoes beside it.  I had wondered if the potatoes were helping to shade the lettuce from the late afternoon sun, but it doesn't seem to be the case.  They get sun pretty much all day.  The potatoes are starting to flop over and die back so if that's the secret, then we'll find out pretty soon.

I harvested 6 yellow straight neck summer squash yesterday.  (Sorry no pic)  I steamed them up with butter and salt and pepper.  Simple and yummy.  SM and I scarffed those up in one night.

I do have a few patty pans starting to form up.  


Lots of male flowers so far.  I've never grown patty pans so I'm kind of excited to see and taste what happens.  There's something about yellow summer squashes that I love.  I think they are sweeter than zucchini.  I've planted LOTS of yellow squash this year.  Only 2 zucchini.

Since the pea harvest is complete, I direct sowed a bed of lima beans (new for me) on Saturday along with another bed of green and yellow bush beans.  I had a few empty spaces in one of the landing strips so I thought I'd plant some more butternut squash and a second planting of yellow straight and patty pans.

So now every inch of the garden is being put to use...as it should be.  SM and I drove by a small homestead we know that has a stand out front (not open yet) and his garden is beside the road.  His tomatoes are HUGE and you can see the fruit from the road.  SM says the he had his tomatoes in the ground mid April.  I didn't have the guts to do that but I feel better knowing that he's got me beat by a month.  Our tomatoes are flowering and are just starting to put out fruit. 

The green peppers are still behind.  Flowers but no fruit yet.  The cucumbers and pumpkins are starting to vine.  The melons are still small but look promising.

Moon and Stars Watermelon (Baker Creek)

Enjoy your day!

3 comments:

  1. Most heat tolerant lettuce is much slower to bolt, plus if you harvest it frequently you can keep off bolting even longer. Everything looks so good in your garden.

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  2. Enjoy every last bit! I gave up on cool weather and got zilch for leafys. You are having a wonderful garden season!!

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  3. I'll have to look for the heat tolerant lettuce! I miss picking my own salad.
    Everything looks great, tami!

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