Let us grow lettuce

Some years ago, I read an article about growing lettuce. Article said to just let it bolt (go to seed). Plants would reseed themselves and come up in the next growing season. I liked that idea. No sowing or tilling and I get good things to eat? What’s not to like?

At its current stage, the lettuce is truly ugly. Plants look like tall many-branched dandelions. And I truly loathe dandelions. A big swath of our pond garden looks like a weed patch. But for free buttercrunch lettuce, I’ll ignore that nasty patch. The little dandelion-like seeds fly away and land wherever, coming up later as lettuce. And that’s just fine.

However, the other day Hubby did confess to helping the little white puffs in their mission. “I spread them around,” he said.

By accident, we started eating lettuce on St. Patrick’s Day this year. Hubby was trying to preserve our lettuce from fall cold snaps. He laid down a triangle of landscape timbers and put a piece of Plexiglass over them. This worked for awhile. Eventually winter got its way and killed the lettuce. We forgot about our makeshift cold frame when snow covered it.

I walked past the cold frame in early March. To my surprise, I saw little shoots of lettuce under the cold frame.

We don’t often enjoy our own fresh produce in March, so we ate it eagerly.

This fall, we’ll be intentional about our cold frame.

About the time school starts, I want to sow some other lettuce varieties, hoping for a second season. Mesclun would be welcome this fall.

Let us grow lettuce!