June 12, 2011 - Out With the Lettuce!



Remember this photo from three days ago?


Well, I cut the rest of the lettuce from the barrel today, and ended up with......


This.

That turned into another 39 ounces of lettuce for the refrigerator, and 21 ounces for the compost bin. I have so much lettuce, I've become very picky about what I keep to eat. Any leaf that isn't young and perfect goes to compost. In fact, I have decided to pull all the lettuce from that barrel, and plant it with zucchini. After all, I still have thirty heads of lettuce in various stages of growth, plus a flat of tiny seedlings! I think that will be quite enough to feed us for a while.


Our new sofa has become Annie's "bean bag chair". She can relax, while watching out the window for something to bark at.


16 comments:

  1. Got lettuce?? Heehee! My lettuce got attacked by slugs. I've had to pick out chewed up outer leaves. I'm letting them get a little bigger before picking.

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  2. Throwing lettuce in the compost, while I'm trying to help my little ones survive ugh! There ought to be a law against having too much lettuce.

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  3. Holly, I had a lot of slug damage on my lettuce, too. Fortunately I grew enough for them and us ;-) I sure am careful to wash it leaf by leaf though...I don't want to find a slug in my salad!

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  4. Ginny, if you'll adopt my old rabbit, I'll send him with his suitcase filled with lettuce!

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  5. ah, you too?! Welcome to the non-lettuce club :)

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  6. My lettuce is starting to get bitter. :< So sad. I can't wait for the next batch to grow up enough to pick.

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  7. Here's an idea - offer your lettuce on freecycle! Or as they do here at Emily's in NH put out a sign at the curb "Free Lettuce". People get rid of lots of stuff that way.

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  8. Erin, hardly! With 30 heads and a flat of seedlings left, I think I'll have lettuce for quite some time! What I pulled was just a drop in the bucket.

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    Daphne, this is still sweet and crisp. The mature heads look really good, but what I pulled was getting some long stems, so it was real close to bitter I think. Romaine just doesn't work well as a cut-and-come-again type of lettuce.

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    Marcia, I put out tomatoes and zucchini last year with a "free" sign...didn't get a single taker! I'll take my excess down to the low income apartments tomorrow, if my kids aren't ready for more.

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  9. I'm jealous! It won't grow here past June! I forgot all about your backup seedlings!

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  10. I've got some big, bitter lettuce that's going to be compost this week along with my flowerless cauliflowers.

    And I have an almost identical photo of Carly on the back of the sofa ... falling asleep after a long day of squirrel patrol ....

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  11. Deb, it wasn't a bit bitter, but with all the other lettuce plants, and no place to plant the zucchini......well, a girl has to do what a girl has to do! Then I discovered I didn't have any zucchini seeds, so now I have to go buy a packet. I was just at the store yesterday for a new packet of carrot seeds, sheesh.

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  12. Annie is just such a darling and the couch looks like it will eventually remain molded into her shape from frequent use by her! :D

    I need to tackle harvesting more lettuce too. I have several plantings of it and we have been eating lettuce and spinach salads almost daily and yet it just keeps growing!

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  13. LOL, Kitsap! That cushion is already permanently a bit lower than the others. She does love to lay up there. Heck, if it were larger, I'd love to lay up there!

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  14. Each time I look at your blog I am overcome with adoration for Annie - and seeing her on the top of the lounge almost made me melt. Your lettuces look great too :)

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  15. Nice batch of lettuce! It's time for me to go out and do something with our lettuce. I think I'll save a few choice plants, and pull up all the others. All of my lettuce is Deer Tongue, and it's getting a little on the bitter side. I only harvest the outer leaves, and I wonder if they can only be harvested that way for so long. Ah, well, it's getting much too warm here for my lettuce and peas anyway.
    ~~Lori

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  16. Lani, Annie is a real love. She needs to go on a lettuce diet though, she's sinking pretty deep into that cushion!

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    Lori, I'm going to try my hardest to keep the lettuce growing all summer. My timing got a bit off on the starts though, as the second sowing got too large to transplant before the first sowing was removed to make room for them. I did get half the bed and an 8' row transplanted though, so I'm hoping that's enough to feed us and Cookie until this new flat of plants matures.

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