Hallelujah, all hail my first bowl of lettuce! I thinned out the garden and got enough baby greens for a couple of salads this weekend. But my wife is still laughing at me. Granted, one bowl of lettuce is not much to show for the hundred bucks I spent on dirt and fertilizer and such. I am not sure what I did wrong.
The lettuce sprouted, grew a little, but then it sort of stalled. I am thinking that three-day cold spell froze some of the sprouts or something. The mizuna and a couple of the lettuces look okay. But the frissee and the red leaf are in arrested development. They just won't grow anymore. The snow peas, the radishes and the chard are looking good though. I may surprise the cynical spouse with some snow pea shoots sautéed with garlic pretty soon.
My gardening gurus tell me my soil isn't matured enough and I shouldn't worry about it. Forget the lettuce, "plow it under" and get ready for the spring planting. Tomatoes are up next -- then eggplant and peppers. But I'll wait until the big cold snap predicted for the middle of the week blows over.
When do you plant zinnias?
