Garden Tips: Lettuce and Greens

Tips on Lettuce and Other Salad Greens

Quick Tips:

• Spring planting and late summer plantings produce the sweetest and crispest lettuce.
• Plant the seeds as per instructions on packet. Too deep and they may not germinate.
• Take the time to plant the seeds sparingly. Overcrowded lettuce produces smaller plants.
• Never let your seed bed dry out. Keep it moist.
• A 1/2 inch layer of dried grass can help hold in moisture until the lettuce germinates.
• After the lettuce is 2 inches high mulch with a straw/dried grass layer around each plant.
  
  

• First pick a spot that will receive full sun all day.
  
• Plant your salad greens in a raised bed. 
  
• Rich, well drained soil is best. One part sphagnum peat moss, one part well rotted manure to three parts soil works well.
  
• Mix in one cup of bone meal, one cup of blood meal for every 20 square feet of planting area.
  
• Mix this into the top 6 inches of soil mix.

• Loose-Leaf: This non-heading lettuce comes in a variety of leaf shapes and colors. This type is best for the home gardener because it can withstand hotter temperatures and is slower to bolt (go to seed) than most. Try buying a packet of mixed loose leaf lettuces and enjoy a rainbow of colors and tastes in your next salad
• Romaine: It grows tall with elongated leaves. It is the typical lettuce added to Caesar Salads. It is crisp and usually dark green. It does well in Colorado Springs (especially in the spring and early fall). Burpee has an early maturing variety "Little Caesar Romaine" that performs well throughout the season.
• Crisphead: This group is known for the iceberg varieties that is most popular in salads at most chain restaurants. It is usually a pale green in color. As a generalization this group does not does as well as the others. It needs cool, long springs to develop a large, crisp, sweet head. Larry has had success with Burpee's Burgundy Ice Berg Lettuce.
• Butterhead: This group forms a soft head. It usually has a yellow center with dark outer leaves. This group is worth growing in the spring and early fall. The delicate buttery taste is a favorite of many gardeners.

When Do I Plant and How Do I Take Care of Them?
Plant lettuces and other salad greens in the spring. If you buy lettuce plants at the garden center you can plant them by May 1st. The local garden shops carry romaine and leaf lettuce plants in a six pack that are ready to transplant into your garden. Cut the bottom out of a 1 gallon plastic milk jug. Remove the cap. Place this over your tender lettuce plants until the weather stabilizes and all danger of frost has past. By May 15th you can plant some lettuce seeds outside. A common mistake for begining gardeners is plant a long row of lettuce at one time. This is too much lettuce for most families.

A good rule is plant two short rows (2 feet long) every two weeks throughout the season. Always plant a mix. Some varieties do better during the hot weather and you won't have to guess. Nature will weed out the non-thriving ones. Fertilize with fish emulsion (as per dilution instructions on the bottle) once every two weeks. There are two ways of harvesting lettuce. You can cut the entire head off near the ground or just pick the outer leaves. The latter method is called the "cut and come again" method. In a few days you can harvest again from the same plant.

Keep your lettuce beds moist but not soggy. They will be sweet and not bitter if the soil is not allowed to dry out. Also mulching with straw or dried grass clippings around your lettuce plants is very helpful in keeping the moisture in and the soil temperatures cool.

 Cold frame used in very early spring to grow lettuces and other greens.

Quick Tips

• Choose a very sunny location, 8 hours or more of direct sun per day.
• Plant in well prepared soil. The soil can have 50% more organic material added than you would for other vegetables.
• Spinach and some of the seeds in the Mesclun Mix should be planted in mid April or as soon as the ground can be worked.
• Giant Noble Spinach is an early producer, Correnta provides small leaves excellent for salads,Tyee Spinach is slow to bolt and Melody and Space are considered the tastiest by some. There are many varieties on the market. Most do well.
• Plant just two to three short rows (3 feet long) at this time. Some gardeners plant long rows that produce more lettuce than they can use before it bolts. Staggered plantings are best.
• Plant an additional two or three rows every two weeks until June 1st.
• Harvest often and harvest the outer leaves first. The plants will grow back to produce more.
• When the spinach starts to grow tall and the leaves start getting smaller, harvest quick. This is called bolting (going to seed). That plant will quickly continue to deteriorate in quality. It is best to remove it.
• After June 1st you are done planting spinach for the summer.
• For a fall crop plant spinach again the last week in August.
• For a continuous summer supply of salad greens try some of the "heat tolerant and bolt resistant" lettuce mixes. Plant a few small rows every two weeks throughout the summer.
• Most greens are more tender in the cool months however you can plant mesclun mixes throughout the summer.
• Mesclun mixes when planted in late August will give you an abundant fall harvest.
  
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Left to right: Red Russian Kale,  Mesclun mix, Osaka Purple Mustard

Special Tip for Extra Early Spinach

Plant Giant Noble Spinach or Nordic IV (these varieties grows fast and tender in this arrangement) the first week in April under a plastic tunnel (as shown below). Keep the tunnel completely closed and check to make sure it stays moist. By May 15th you will be harvesting spinach before anyone has even started planting!

    

Noble Spinach is hard to find. Go on-line and "google" Noble Spinach.