Lettuce takes the leap

This year I really want to make succession planting work in my garden. Last year the first batch of lettuce I planted outside did great. I planted the seeds directly in the garden, covered it with straw, kept it watered and waited.

 

 

These tiny sprouts really took off and we ate tasty fresh spring salad for a few weeks

 

 

Sadly, no other lettuce sprouted quite so well in the next few plantings I made.

 

This year I am trying something a little different.  I am starting my lettuce and spinach indoors in batches.  The first batch that I planted was in recycled paper towel roll tubes. 

 

 

They were growing so well in those containers that they all had roots poking out the sides.  They were screaming to be planted in the ground so today I granted them their wish.

 

It is not quite spring yet so I mulched them all pretty well with some straw.

 

 

They had been hardened off this week by spending their days on the back deck next to the house.  They still aren't strong enough to hold up to the stiff wind and chilly temps at night so they will still be covered for a little while yet

 

I recycled old water jugs by cutting off the bottom and fitting them over three plants at a time.  Hopefully the plants are strong enough to withstand the cold nights with a little help from the plastic.

 

I planted the second batch in another set of planters a few weeks ago and they seem to be coming along nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

I started another round of lettuce and spinach today also, so hopefully they will be about this size when the next batch is big enough to go in the dirt. 

 

The whole idea with succession planting is to make sure that your whole crop doesn't ripen at the same time.  The key is to time your plantings so you can continually harvest about the same amount throughout the season.  With lettuce this means I need to plant a new round every 2-3 weeks throughout the summer.  It's not so hard to keep up with it now because there isn't much going on in the garden just yet.  Once more plants go in then the constant watering, weeding, and picking tend to take over my spare time.  If this starting them inside then transplanting them outside works better than the direct seeding I did last year, then this is something I will need to get better at.