Hello all, again I must apologize for not writing for a while, Nick just got out of the hospital a couple days ago. He was only in for a night, but now that he’s out I’m more adamant than ever to find a better diet plan to accommodate his gastroparesis coupled with type 1 diabetes. That being said get ready for lots of experimental recipes coming soon!
Something I researched lately is a process called “bolting”. This is what happens to lettuce and other leafy greens when the weather gets too hot. Lettuce really enjoys cool weather like 50-60 degrees, they can even handle light frosts pretty well from what I read. As soon as the weather starts to hit 70-80 (and its’ been over 100 lately), the leaf structure of the plant starts to change, and a thick stalk starts to grow in the middle. Eventually the stalk will flower, then produce seeds. The flavor of the lettuce will grow bitter, and when you cut the leaves, a milky liquid will form. At this point, the lettuce is still edible, just unpleasant due to taste. After learning this, I decided it is time for that lettuce to go. If I sow lettuce seeds in mid August, I should have a decent fall lettuce crop. Another one in the wrong season is my kale plant. I learned after planting that they are a fall/winter green. Perhaps I’ll plant the two together again but in the right season this time. For going into this gardening experience with minimal knowledge, I feel like I’ve done pretty well and learned a lot already. If I learn this much in just the first few months of being a gardener imagine the knowledge I’ll have to share in a couple years. I’m pretty excited to exercise this green thumb of mine.
My friend Leonna had these carrot starts that were getting too big for the container she had, so she brought them up to our place to transplant. Now the wee babies have replaced two rows of lettuce.
As you can see, my thirsty looking tomato plant has taken up the remaining space in the bed. It keeps producing little red cherry tomatoes so I figure it’ll be fine staying outside rather than digging a hole in the ground and surrounding it with greenhouse like I thought I was going to do.
Another producing plant is my cucumbers, finally. They’re growing a bunch of the fat little sausages all over the place I just don’t know how big they’re supposed to get so I’m unsure if I should harvest now or keep waiting. I’m just gonna science it out and pick some now and some later and see which taste better. Although, I’m a little scared it’s gonna take over the whole bed even after training it to grow down the side, my basil and pepper plant are getting encroached on a bit. We’ll see what happens. Know any great gardening tips? Share them with me below in the comments!
Nick and Nan's Adventures 