I mentioned in my previous post about this year’s vegetable garden that I used seed tape from Jung Seed for the first time — and, for the first time, I got lettuce seeds to germinate in my garden.
Seed tape alongside the tiny lettuce sprouts from the seeds I planted a week or so earlier. Photo taken late April.
One of the advantages of seed tape is supposed to be that you don’t have to thin the plants because they grow exactly as far apart as they’re supposed to. So this is what I had early in the week:
Lettuce before thinning
If I were growing lettuce to sell, that probably is a good density. I would hack all the plants off at the base about now and consider it done. But the way I like to use greens in my garden is to harvest the outer leaves and let the plant continue to grow so I can harvest more later — cut and come again. So, after I took the above picture, I took out every other plant and made salads from them for a couple of days. I mulched with leaf mold around the remaining plants to keep the weeds at bay.
This was last night:
Lettuce after thinning and more harvesting
I harvested enough of the outer leaves, along with some baby chard and cress, to make three big salads — Rick and I had salad with dinner and I gave the rest to a friend. I’m very pleased with my first successful lettuce crop!
How does your garden grow?
Saturday Snapshots are hosted each week by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. Check out her post this weekend for lots of great photos around the web.
