To assure that you can have lettuce to eat everyday in some of the off-season months you have to plant far more than you think you’ll need.
Continuous planting in the fall — with a little protection through the winter — will give you a bounty of salads long before your spring plantings have germinated.
And when it gets hot — and you think it’s time to pull up your stalked lettuce — don’t. You’ll be amazed at how much delicious lettuce you can get from stalked lettuce in the heat of summer — if you know what to look for.
So be slow to pull up your lettuce and try to have some in every shady spot in your garden.
Since I can’t have you with me in the garden to show you when the stalked lettuce is all-of-a-sudden eatable again — I’m going to try to describe it to you in a post this summer.
I hope I find the right words — because you’ll be amazed at how the weather can change bitter to sweet. So in anticipation of that post, start paying attention to how lettuce looks — you’ll need to be an expert on that to get lettuce in July and August.
To recap make plans to:
- Plant far more than you think you’ll need.
- Plant continuously in the fall. (And in the spring!)
- Have some lettuce in every shady spot in the garden and DON’T pull it up when it stalks!
With this 3 point plan, you’ll have lettuce fresh from the garden in off-season months.
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Organic Gardening is easy, effective, efficient —- and it’s a lot healthier.
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Other Posts on Lettuce:
Lettuce – There’s No Right or Wrong Way
Greens – Now is the Time to Plan for the Heat of Summer
Lettuce – Eating Fresh Even After it Stalks
Lettuce – Delicious as a Cooked Green
Lettuce Bitter? Secrets to Keeping it Tasty
Lettuce – Spinning Like a Great Chef
Spinach Talk
Lettuce – Favorites, Tips, and Several Sources
Lettuce – Plant in the Fall – Harvest for 3 Seasons
Lettuce – A Teaser and Reminder
Lettuce – Time to Plant
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Theresa, I have stalks of lettuce that I have let flower and I don’t know when it becomes eatable again. It does shade some of my newer lettuce which has helped it in the heat. Did you tell in another posting how or when to harvest from the stalks of lettuce..Did I miss when you explained how or when to harvest the lettuce again?
Hi Sharon,
No, you didn’t miss anything. I was waiting until I experienced the change again in my garden so I could pay close attention and maybe better explain to readers how to tell what’s good and what’s not.
I have a good bit of lettuce that is flowering in my garden and also I have — as you do — the newer lettuce. I’ve planted in every shady spot in the garden which makes a tremendous difference. The weather has been so good that hardly any of it has turned bitter yet.
There is one spot — that gets more sun — and the lettuce has stalked. It is no longer prime — in other words I am not using it for salads. I checked it after the last rainy day we had and some of it “changed back” (for lack of a better term.).
You know how some lettuce gets sort of a blue cast to it when its bitter? Well sometimes after a rain and return to cooler temperatures it turns a nice green again. This is when you can pick it and use it. Not every leaf will do this — only some. Sometimes they are the older leaves and sometimes they are the newer leaves.
You’ll still have to soak the leaves in cold water, but they should be great in a salad.
It’s very had for me to explain in words. Wish I could show everyone in person — because a video would not do it either. It’s something that you do better with experience.
I will continue to pay attention as hot weather fall upon us and try to explain more when I feel that I have the right words.
Thanks for letting me know you’re interested in knowing, Sharon.