Salad Season

It's that highly anticipated season of the year again.....Salad Season!

This beautiful mix is a favorite of mine, Pinetree Lettuce Mix. It was winter sown on January 10th, transplanted out in February, and kept covered with ventilated plastic on those early cold days and frosty nights. It has come through several Spring hail storms! Last week I began picking this lovely, delicious lettuce. It is so tender, that it actually tastes creamy to me. ( I know creamy is an unusual word to describe lettuce, but that is just how tender it is!) Early lettuce is always best, as heat tends to make it bitter. Summer often hits us rather quickly here, so getting an early start with the lettuce is something I always endeavor to do.... and the little bit of extra time and effort involved pays off!

This photo shows the full view of the self watering container I use to grow the lettuce in. The size of the container is about 6 ft long by 1 Ft. wide. We received two of these from a friend, who was cleaning out his back yard, and I LOVE them! The second container was just planted yesterday with two lettuces that can take more summer heat, Jericho and Anuenue. When the heat hits us, I enlist the help of dear husband to move the container to my deck, where it gets morning sun and afternoon shade.





A bowl full of freshly picked, sweet, succulent lettuce.





A close up of all the beautiful textures and colors!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Tip: Lettuce should be planted in full sun for the spring and fall, and in partial shade for the hottest part of the summer.

Project Winter Sow 2008

This is my second year of winter sowing....and I'm afraid I'm hooked! What a great way to get LOTS of plants, for not a lot of money. Especially since many of my seeds come from trades. I love trading seeds on Gardenweb.....but that will have to be another post. :-)


You can see my winter sowing containers lined up here on one of my raised garden beds, which is covered with a mulch of leaves. Last year I kept my winter sown containers behind the house on my picnic table, but this seems a more practical setup. It is closer to water and to the greenhouse where I work most days in the spring, enabling me to keep a closer eye on the containers in case they need venting or watering. Since I took this photo last week, I have added several more jugs, bringing this years count to 64. Last year I had 80+, and had so many plants I had to give them away to friends and neighbors! I planted fewer seeds in each container this time around....now that I have faith this method does work and those seeds will sprout. Another thing I did differently this year was to note the height of each plant on the marker I include in each container, as well as whether the plant likes sun/shade, etc. This saves me time when planting out...especially for those new seed varieties I try each year.




Besides the one gallon milk jugs I use for winter sowing, I use a lot of these clear plastic containers that we buy Organic Mixed Greens in, from Costco. I put vents in the lids and they work very well. I use these a lot for poppies, larkspur, bachelor buttons, calendulas and other favorite hardy annuals, which I sow in quantity. (The sowing surface area in these is roughly double that of the gallon milk jugs). Shown above is 2 of the lettuces I sowed and set out on Feb. 12th. They were up and growing by Feb. 22....some of the first to sprout!




A close up of little lettuce plants....this variety is Italienischer, from seeds shared by my friend Catherine last year. (Thanks, Cat!) It grows huge, to 18 inches and is great tasting. The other variety is an old favorite, Green Ice which I grow for it's tenderness and sweetness. These will be soon transplanted to the garden to grow on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you haven't tried Winter sowing and would like more information:

www.wintersown.org