09 Aug 2005
Lettuce graze
We've just eaten our entire season's crop of lettuce in two very small side salads. I think that we need to rethink our horticultural practices. Lots of stones and soil that looks like dust does not make for happy, abundant lettuces.
Furthermore, we're suffering from lettuce-envy, because friends of ours produced a bed full of hedge-sized lettuces in a couple of weeks. Our scrawny little saplings have struggled for months to reach a size that makes it worthwhile washing them and putting them on a plate.
2
Not so much Iceberg as Icefloe!by Jonathan Briggs @ 13/08/2005 12:09 pm • Permalink
3
SteveC: You definitely shouldn't eat foxgloves---don't they contain some digitoxin like substance (used in drugs to treat heart disease)?
john(j.c.): We were fairly good about weeding and watering, so I think the problem was mainly the bad soil. I think we'll try growbags in future for crops that need a lot of nutrients. We bought some wildflower seeds in the Eden Project, so we're going to plant those in that bed next year---they should appreciate poor soil. On the plus side, many of our other plantings did very well, so it's not all bad.
Jonathan Briggs: hehe 
-----
1
We eat our pea crop on Sunday. About two tablespoons. And the beetroots this year are pathetic. But it won't stop me trying again next spring. We majored on foxgloves this year and have a random buddlia we didn't order, but you can't eat those. It's all part of the joy of gardening. Steve----- I suggest raised planting beds and new/more/or reworked soil. Weeding AND watering are helpful also. Soil is the basis. If soil didn`t matter nobody would have left sweden for america. My number one tip is not to be too ambitious. grow into gardening, don´t make it another frustrating guilt trip in your life and never forget there´s a new growing season next year (at least i hope so)! just a simple gardener.by john(jc.) @ 12/08/2005 6:09 am • Permalink