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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Organic Salad Greens Farm to Table

I had tried to grow lettuce in my raised garden bed in the past, unfortunately without any success.  When my husband bought me a small greenhouse last year I was excited to try extending our growing season so in early February we set it up. 

The lettuce seedlings I had been growing in starter pots was the first to get transplanted out there.  I also transplanted some and sowed some of the same lettuce seeds into the raised garden.  So that I could compare the results, my results surprised me!


Lettuce seedlings started mid January

This is the lettuce not long after transplanting in mid February
I did not keep very good records :(  Whoops!

The lettuce at the end of March, ready for harvest

Greenhouse to table in about 6 weeks
No pesticides, herbicides or fungicides 
Totally organic, even the soil!
What would this salad be worth in the grocery store, I wonder?


Another of the lettuce mix just after transplanting

The lettuce mix today.  It made a beautiful bouquet, but if I had planted it further apart it would have had more room to grow.


The reason I cannot show you the pictures of the seedlings and transplants that I set out in the garden is simple, because the seeds I sewed in the garden never germinated (probably too cold, wet, etc.) and the chickens ate the transplanted lettuce.  Whoops again...

So I have decided that greenhouse lettuce is the way to go.  I think that next year I will try growing out in it more during the winter and sewing seedlings and transplants every two weeks or so for a continued harvest.  That is what makes gardening such fun, there is ALWAYS something new to try!