Sharing a little glimpse of my garden that makes me happy.
Wishing you a very peaceful day.
Once again this year, I’ll be sharing little glimpses of our gardens. Although so much is growing all the time, there is always a little moment every week that makes me smile extra wide and this is what I want to share with you.
How strange this summer has been for our gardens. Not only have we been able to enjoy vegetables that usually we have no luck with, but with the heat finally setting in, we are seeing the promise of warm weather vegetables to come. But unbolted, sweet, crunchy lettuce heads in July? Forget it, I’ve never been able to enjoy them unless they came from the market.
This past week, we finally got our first little heat wave. For about 4 days, the temperatures shot up to 38 ‘C (100 ‘F) with humidity and the gardens exploded. As I watched my spinach and mesclun lettuces go to seed in record time, I suggested to my husband that we start eating salads everyday. In case I hadn’t mentioned, as of last Monday, we had about 60 heads of lettuce ready for harvesting so the idea of them bolting was more than I could bare. We started chopping off the heads, leaving the roots in the ground until we were ready to pull everything out and plant some cover crops until fall. Well, the nights got cool again, the days became breezy and partly cloudy again and lo and behold : The lettuces grew back!
I will definitely be planting this variety again. We have been eating it since late May. And as colder nights are still on the menu for the next 7 days, we might actually get to eat them again! Who knew I would find the unstoppable lettuce?
How is your garden growing?
Family, Faith, Food and Fabric 
Our garden is struggling a bit in the Carolina heat. Grace has managed to get pinto beans growing, so I need to Google how to dry them and prepare them to eat! The Carolina red clay isn’t too kind to gardening.
I’d order a head of lettuce!
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Poor Eli, if I thought they would survive the transport. I’d send you 20!
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It’s the thought that counts, Yanic! Thanks.
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Oh wow! Unstoppable lettuce sounds amazing, the question is, for how long can you keep eating salad before you’ve had too much – before or after the heatwave ends!!
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It’s so impossible to get decent lettuce 4-5 months out of the year here that I very rarely get tired in the summer months. It is such a seasonal thing for us, we rarely partake in the colder months. We have a few local hot house farms that produce Boston lettuce ad curly green, but it’s flavorless in comparison. If I get sick, I’ll let you know! 🙂
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Wow, that sounds a lot of lettuce to get through! But how brilliant that they grew back?!
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We’ve been trying to get creative. I heard somewhere you can freeze lettuce for smoothies : We’ll have to try it. I’m seriously thinking of making greens baskets for all my neighbors! Or maybe I could donate to a local shelter?
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Good heavens! That’s a ton of lettuce! And the pressure not to let it go to waste must be pretty intense!
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It is a bit… But I honestly don’t know what is worse : Planting too little and failing or planting too much risking waste. Cause “just enough” doesn’t seem to work with us. LOL!
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Are they tasting bitter at all? We’ve had 33-41C weather and it’s been too hot for lettuce! I grew some bolt resistant varieties, and some did pretty good, but the prolonged heat in the end changed the flavour. I’ll be sowing the fall lettuce mid-Aug 🙂
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They are actually still surprisingly palatable. Some are getting there though. I have some slow bolt I’ll be trying out for late summer/fall. I’m trying to think of what to do with them. They are getting less fun to eat (although mixed with other crunchy lettuces, they give a plate a nice little kick) but I’ve read some people freeze them to add them to soups, stews and smoothies so I thought, why not dehydrate them and use them as soup and stew seasonings??? I may give it a whirl, what do I have to lose? 🙂
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So happy for you! Our lettuce is quite bitter, but I am finding even that has its uses. Take care.
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Bitter lettuce still tastes great in cooked dishes. Try mincing it up like herbs in salads and stews. Very yummy! 🙂
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