Our first 90F (32C) day is predicted to hit tomorrow. Today will be hot too. Now some of you might not consider 90F to be all that hot, but up here near the ocean, we just don't get hot. Humid yes, but in the 100s? Not so much. This year I've been trying to keep my lettuce going into the summer. The first batch of lettuce was finished and ripped out. I'm currently harvesting the second. But the third is only half sized right now. And I figured it would be really wilting in the heat. Or turning bitter.
The end of the bed has the fourth sowing of lettuce. It is struggling as I let it get too dry recently. I hope it lives. Now it is time to get wave five started. But not today. I think I'll try direct seeding some at the end of the onion bed. It gets a lot of shade so might be a good little lettuce nursery. Or maybe wave five will be started with my fall brassicas. Those need to get seeded very soon too. And since I'll have my grow lights on, I might as well do it all at once.
We gardeners are a fussy lot. Too little sun is bad, and too much sun is also bad!
ReplyDeleteI was going to try multiple lettuce plantings for summer too, but I was late getting my last batch in. I thought about attempting some in the shade of the cucumbers, but I still haven't gotten around to it. We get so much wind here that I would need a heavy duty shade cloth.
ReplyDeleteI'll be interested to see how your lettuce fairs. Seed Savers gave me a free packet of 'Slow Bolt' which I sowed in March and am still harvesting as a cut and come again. True to its name, it's still not showing any signs of bolting or going bitter.
ReplyDeleteOh, strangely, we're only forecasted to reach 81 in Scituate today. But who knows what will happen. Luckily, we got about a quarter inch of rain last night so at least the soil won't bake today.
ReplyDeleteYou are working hard to keep your succession of lettuce going! It's difficult to keep lettuce going all summer here. It's just too hot and humid for much of the time. I set out a few plants today and that will be it until fall. I am experimenting with leaf amaranth though, which is supposed to be good eaten raw.
ReplyDelete90°F is hot here, and we had some of that in early May, which is unusual here. I did the same thing with my lettuce, only I used old lightweight remay. I like the remay because on the hottest days I can use two or three layers whereas now I only have one layer over my sensitive plants. Your muslin looks so much nicer than my tatty old remay. We are having our normal foggy "June Gloom" weather now and the temperatures are struggling to get into the 70s.
ReplyDeleteI've never tried to grow lettuce in summer, maybe I should give it a go to see how they like it in semi shade, if it works that will be great.
ReplyDeleteI'm still on my first sowing of lettuce, but I transplanted mine outdoors pretty late this year. How organized you are - 5 successions! This is the first year that I am trying any kind of succession planting - I'm still struggling with timing as I have no idea when the different bed areas will be free for the next planting...so lots of notes this year!
ReplyDeleteWe are in the same boat, trying to keep lettuce for as long as possible. But even with shade cloth we have started loosing the battle this week. The last picking of lettuce was starting to get bitter. You might try switching to a summer crisp lettuce now. They hold up to the heat much better. We planted Nevada the last couple of years and we were harvesting very tasty leaves in August! We have some in now and they are the only ones not going bitter!
ReplyDeleteKeeping lettuce going all summer is something I've never been good at. I forget to plant more at the right time, it gets to dry/hot...this summer I'm hoping to do better! I like your idea of the trellis providing shade.
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