Lettuce 2019

Hello again everyone. Thanks to all who welcomed me when I commented in the onion thread a few days ago. I appreciated the welcome very much.

In my garden I consider all lettuce cut and come again. And I’ve grown dozens of varieties.

Since it’s one of my specialties I’ve written dozens of posts on lettuce.
In one I suggested:

"Variety (Diversity) is the Key to Success
To get the most from your efforts in growing lettuce, select at least 3 of the 4 types (Loose Leaf, Romaine, Butterhead, Crisphead) and 1 or 2 varieties of each type. —— Each one performs a bit differently and has its own characteristics."

I grow numerous varieties each year. Four that I would not be without are:


Sierra Batavia - an excellent lettuce and really delicious.(how it does in the winter garden will depend on the severity of the weather)

Winter density is one of the best if not THE best Romaine, especially for early spring, fall and winter. (winter garden with protection)

Sierra Batavia and Winter Density are my all time favorites! 

Italienisher Oakleaf is wonderful. (Will also do well in the winter garden with protection)

Freckles or Florenschullous Loose Romaine type that holds very well in summer heat.

Thank you ahntjudy,
After all these years TMG will soon have a new look. It's in the works but the person helping me with it had a family illness so everything is on hold for a while. There's a lot of stuff I don't know how to do. Definitely NOT a techy.

This year will be an unusual year for me. Not growing as much as usual but still plenty. Still rebuilding my muscles on the left side after being immobile for over 3 months with broken thigh bone. (femur) And I thought I was slow before!!

Returning your good wishes for luck with this year's garden. May it be your most bountiful!
Theresa

lilolpeapicker, Very easy. You don't even have to bend over, tall stalks form and get 2-3 ft tall.

yeah, me too...

Lost 5 good sized outdoor lettuce to the polar vortex, but still have several out there. They're all covered up at the moment, as we're supposed to get our classic coastal midatlantic "wintry mix" of snow, sleet, and rain.

But I have more growing inside.

Mumsey,

That is such nice pretty growth on the little gem. 3 weeks! You should share with the company those pics.

Harvested a handful of lettuce leaves yesterday from a fasciated lettuce mutation, partly just so I could say I had done it this early, and partly because they were pressing against the glass cover. The lettuce had been uncovered the whole winter, my intent being to find out how much abuse it could take. It can take a lot, but there has been no real test because winter has been exceptionally mild here, down only into the teens. The most punishing thing has been endless cold, heavy rain. Plants in highly permeable soil grew best. Rats and mice got some. Lost some to rain. To keep the rain off, I covered some to see if it would grow better, and it has. This lettuce turns out to be a butter type. It looks better than it tastes, but something is better than nothing. A possibility of snow this morning.