I still have lettuce plants from last fall that were from a lettuce variety pack. Some are about two feet tall and blooming now, some white and some yellow. They are pretty and fragrant. I have recently had knee replacement surgery and am not able to garden yet. Should I let these blooms go to seed or have someone pull them up?
Lettuce is blooming, what to do?
Just can just enjoy them if you like them. It won't hurt anything to leave them out when they go to seed.
Let them make seeds and you'll have all you need for planting next fall. From what I can tell, most lettuce is open pollinated so they will be the same as the parent plants.
I'm drying some Pak Choi seeds now. The stalks started yellowing so I figured they were done. I cut the stalks and put them upside down in a big brown paper grocery bag to finish drying. When they're ready, I'll beat them around in the bag to catch the seeds as they fall out of the pods.
Thanks for your answers and ideas. I just planted a few veggies among my flowers and am enjoying the results along with the surprises, like the beautiful flowers of the leaf lettuce.
Every year I intentionally let some of my favorite lettuce varieties go to seed and save them to plant again, both in the Fall and the next Spring. If the price of seed continues to go up, I'll be doing a lot more lettuce seed-saving!
I let some of mine go to seed last year and I haven't needed to plant any new lettuce this year since I have dozens of plants popping up around the yard. My garden is pretty unstructured so they are free to grow wherever they please. They are forming a nice cover crop under the raspberries and asparagus.
I almost forgot, the goldfinches love the lettuce seeds and were out there almost everyday, and I still have lots of volunteers.
This message was edited Apr 19, 2010 1:59 PM
Isn't it nice to have bird seed without having to buy it. I'm growing mostly open pollinated varieties of everything so there will be a lot of seed saving going on here.
I haven't met the hybrid lettuce seed yet...have you?
I sowed some lettuce seeds three seasons ago to see if I could find a lettuce I actually liked. Some of them had gorgeous blue flowers!
The only "lettuce" that I decided to put on my "like" list was Arugula (Rocket) - which now freely reseeds itself. It's white flowers smell vaguely like vanilla. I like it's peppery flavour in my sandwiches. I couldn't find another lettuce that I liked, even though I grew quite a variety :(
I can only grow arugula here as a Fall crop. The flea beetles get to the Spring crop no matter what I do to try and keep them away. Don't know if Arugula is actually classified as a lettuce, but the pungent leaves are excellent in salads.
Have you tried growing your arugula under one of those light weight cloths that lets in about 85% of sunlight.? It keeps a lot of the insect damage down. I grow all my cabbages and lettuce carrots and beets under it to keep all the little green worms at bay. It works like a charm. I plant or put in the sets and then cover it with the cover and pretty much keep it covered until harvest since there is no need for bees and such for these plants to be productive.Take a look at the photo below.
Here's a view from the inside.
Yes, I've tried the row covers similar to those in your photos. They do indeed keep the flea beetles off, but they also heat up the beds and my arugula bolts prematurely...I just can't win!
We've had one or two hot runs his spring... I manage to get through them by spraying the covers and letting the water evaporate... helps to keep thing cooler. We have 100 degree heat forecast this weekend ( not normal for this time of the year. Hopefully I can keep things a bit cooler with the water!
Good to know. It looks like I'm using the same type of row cover (it's thin like that) for lettuce and brassicas. I'll spray them with the hose when it gets hot.
Nice photos, nini. Where did you buy the clothes pins? I used to have some, but they've slowly disappeared.
Honeybee...clothespins Ala Walmart... but the wind got so strong this spring I had to move to those heavy duty wide black paper clips (the very small ones) that are in the office supply section to keep the covers on.
Binder clips? I use them at the office all the time. I'll have to buy some for my garden. Thanks for the tip, Nini :)