In spite of drought and more grasshoppers than we need, I'm going to plant lettuce tomorrow. I know, dumb, dumb, dumb, but I do want some fresh lettuce, and I need Swiss chard for the hens' winter greens. What is it about gardening that makes you fly in the face of fact and go ahead and hope?
It's the anticipation of the buds for me when I plant seeds. That gathering of energy in the plant, the unfurling of the leaves and petals. I love to plant mixed packets of flowers just to have that happy rush when the flower opens and the color is revealed. I also plant many coleus, grown over a dozen or more years of letting plants cross with each other via the bumbling bees. The joy of discovering the new patterns and colors in the leaves never fails to give me deep personal satisfaction. It's an emotion that can not be bottled or bought.
Jane, go ahead and plant to your hearts content. I just planted lettuce seeds, also and it's a much shorter growing season for me, due to the cold.
I'm here in San Antonio TX and I planted my lettuce 3 weeks ago. The first week I planted them the temp. got over 100, but they just needed to be watered more. They are doing really well. I recommend you plant a Buttercrunch Lettuce or Red Sails Lettuce they are very heat tolerant and slow to bolt to seed. I also planted my Arugula and watercress. ( photo / image / picture from rick162iq's Garden )
Buttercrunch is one that I plant yearly here in NE Texas. As well as Bibb, paris island cos, red and green salad bowl,simpson and any other I can find. Can you tell I love salad ?? I am late this year,, got to get busy.
What is it about gardening that makes you fly in the face of fact and go ahead and hope? Because sometimes we get lucky and things work out better than we hoped. Plant that lettuce. You may come up with some clever way to protect it for a few more weeks. I'm covering a wire cage with remay and plastic. We'll see.
Prickly, cold isn't the enemy--it's drought and grasshoppers. So far the lettuce is up, and I'm watering every other day. The broccoli is caged to protect it from 'hopper teeth. I hope the grasshoppers go away soon so I don't have to build bigger cages!
