Late night at the farm

[12540dumont]

So I was up agonizing over lettuce. Lettuce does not do well here in the summer. I have it coming out of my ears until the CSA season starts and then phooey: all bitter, all bolting, all buggy. So I was hunting alternatives and found theis

crew.wildgardenseed.com/

Go through Chaff Pie and look at the seed cleaner from UK Real Seeds.

So then I had to go over and look at their seeds...
www.realseeds.co.uk/

And found their winnowing page. And then I found a cool isolation cage plan

www.realseeds.co.uk/isolation%20cages.html

As to their seed...well I'm tempted to Tim's Red Orach. Orach grows wild here, and I use it a lot in the summer along with purslane and other hardy greens. I've got green, and green and red mixed, but no straight Red. Looks yummy.

I love their photos of runner beans. Look at the "twigs" holding them up! Some of their early aubergine's (eggplant for you other folks) look fabulous as well.

Gee, who do I know in England that I can send seeds to....

[oxbowfarm]

I really like Wild Garden Seed's catalog. I have not had good success with very many of their lettuce varieties which makes me cry as some of them are the most beautiful lettuces. Blushed Butter Oaks is probably the most beautiful lettuce ever created IMO. But for me it gets bitter as heck while still looking perfect. So far I can only grow them in spring, no Morton lettuce in summer for me... so far. In summer I have to go ho hum, New Red Fire, Simpsone Elite (my own saved seed), Cherokee, Adriana, etc.

I hope they appeal, coexistence is clearly impossible. Either GMO's must be banned or the patent laws must be changed to allow for the fact that the genes escape proprietary control via natural processes and farmers cannot be held liable.

[12540dumont]

Ox,
I've been trying to find a non-bitter lettuce. From a local Santa Cruz guy, I ordered a lettuce called "Sweeter" and of course the Sachrine from Morton.

This year we trialled 3 early spring, late winter crops from Wild Garden. The Vivid Choy was wonderful. Nothing but good things from the CSA about it. The Scarlet Ohno from Cesarz and The Scarlet Ohno Revival from WGS was great too. Unfortunately the MacGregor's beets are sitting out in the field shivering. Scarlet Ohno & it's Revival in the photo. I cut greens for 2 weeks, today they'll get the last of the greens and in 2 weeks the turnips.

I'd love to see some of your lettuce photos, and when my seed comes in, swap with you some of Morton's for some of yours.

After all if I wanted bitter, I could grow radicchio? right? Sigh. You are right, their lettuce is beautiful. I guess this is what makes me stay up late worrying.

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[atash]

I live and grow in territory that in theory should have perfect lettuce-growing weather.

I have never been able to grow lettuce here. It's always stunted and bitter. It does not like the soil. Plus, lettuce seems to be one of those crops that you have to overseed, then thin out, because germination is a challenge. I think lettuce seed has short viability compared to a lot of things, plus just naturally makes some dud seeds. This makes more work for poor old over-worked me.

I've been working on leafy crops that make acceptable leafy salad greens. Quite a few of them fit the bill and are easier to grow than lettuce, including some Asian greens that in their home countries are typically stir-fried or pickled, but are tender enough to make good salad greens raw.

Here are some picks:

* beet greens
* young Swiss chard--which is essentially a beet without the fattened root
* young kale
* mizuna
* Tokyo Behana mustard
* various mild salady mustards
* rocket
* "wild rocket" (Diplotaxus), which happens to be perennial but somewhat uselessly so as far as I can tell; however I like it better than real rocket
* small and I do mean SMALL amounts of sorrel; it's quite bitingly sour with oxalic acid
* tender new mint leaves, especially of certain especially tender-leaved types like Vietnamese mint; by this I mean true mint, not any of several unrelated plants mysteriously called "Vietnamese mint" that are obviously not mints.
* young chives
* very young fennel leaves, just a few
* young dill leaves

All of these are significantly easier to grow than lettuce. There is something about 'proportions'. Some things work well to dominate a salad, some things need to play only a small supporting role, having textures or flavors that don't play well with others. I think beet greens, mild mustards, and rocket are good choices for major roles, perhaps in roughly equal proportions, some kale to give body and character but not too much as it's a tougher leaf, and tough or sour stuff like fennel or sorrel in small portions only.

[oxbowfarm]

I always transplant my lettuce, I have had fairly little trouble getting good germs, but I only ever save one variety of lettuce.

[templeton]

Royal Oak Leaf in my home garden is my 'go to' lettuce. I let a few go to seed every summer, and it comes up reliably with the autumn break wherever the heads fall. Really resistant to bolting in summer and until it does, never goes bitter for me.
Might not be a CSA crop tho, I think it might wilt a bit too readily - its a soft leaf open lettuce. I just pick the leaves I need when I make a salad.
For lettuce sowing, I dampen some paper towel, sprinkle on seed, then into a ziplock bag and into the fridge for a week or so, then into punnets to grow on.

Other salad crops - was introduced to Portulaca oleracea this summer - a turkish favourite. grows like a weed - actually is a weed in my garden, but I've now transfered it to the the vege garden. slightly fleshy leaves, a tiny tang, and a slight gummy mouth feel afterward. Very high in good omegas too.

And thanks for those links holly - pity Real Seeds don't export outside the EU.
T

[steev]

Mibuna is an easy, mild leaf; what I set out last Fall is a bit ratty from cold now, but it's put out some "raab" that I'm cooking in Spring clean-up braised greens tomorrow.

[richardw]

Lettuces always do well here,i like to leave lettuce plants go to seed scattered about in out of the way places, that way they self sow themselves and all ive got to do is hoe out the ones that pop up where they are not wanted.

My favourite is a heirloom from Oz called Tree Lettuce,has a lovely thick stem and crunchy
www.koanga.org.nz/shop/seeds/lettuce-tree

[templeton]

Richard, that looks just like my oak leaf lettuce. pic here from the supplier <http://www.diggers.com.au/shop/product/S141/LETTUCE%20ROYAL%20OAKLEAF.aspx>

T

[oxbowfarm]

My absolute favorite lettuce is plain jane Black Seeded Simpson. In the spring it is absolutely perfect. Tender, sweet, crisp juicy leaf rib, a lovely pale green and FAST. But it bolts like crazy in the summer. My favorite replacement for it is Simpson Elite which is very similar but not quite as good little tougher and slower but is very bolt resistant. Unfortunately it is a Seminis variety, so I bought one last packet and now we save it ourselves. There is no other green leaf variety that will grow in summer that even approaches it in quality. All the others are tough dark green supermarket lettuce like Waldeman's. Blech.

[johninfla]

I believe, I'm going to have to transplant from here on in....germination is low for me and I seem to have trouble getting around to thinning if it ever does sprout! I grew two years ago that I liked, I think the name was deer tongue or something like that. It seemed to do fairly well.

John

[Walk]

We do well with lettuce all year round and start all plants in plug trays to transplant outdoors, greenhouse or indoor window boxes. The best variety for all times of year for us is Cracoviensis. It does bolt earlier than some of the others when the weather gets warm but it still tastes good at that stage. Fedco seeds has this variety.