Hello and welcome (back) to the Planet Forward blog and to the latest entry in my virtual organic gardening journal on this fine Friday here in the Greater Toronto Area. Summer is passing so fast but luckily there have not been any more signs of lightning striking anything as I reported in my previous post.

Lettuce photo courtesy of momgoesgreen.com

You’ve probably gotten to the point in your gardening season where your lettuce is going to seed. The plants have become tall, the base spindly, and flowers are blooming at the top of them—not a good sign. It’s time to rip those plants out – there is just no nice way of putting it. You are going to have to pull those lettuce plants right out by the root. That’s what I did. I went into the garden with my trusty spade and pulled out about a third of my lettuce patch at a time. I went with a third because it takes some time to clean the plants which can be time-consuming as you have to pick off all of the good lettuce leaves individually and compost the other leaves and stock. I filled a shopping bag and a half with viable leaves by the time I had pulled out all of the plants. I left the leaves to soak in cold water in my sink and headed back outside to deal with the garden real estate now left empty with the removal of the lettuce plants.

I decided to plant more lettuce seeds. You might think it’s wrong to sow seeds directly into the ground in August and expect to get lettuce from it but that is exactly what will happen. On the back of any package of lettuce seeds you will see different information about planting and harvesting. All of them say that you can directly sow seeds in August. I’m not just going from the package’s instructions, but also on experience as I do this every year. Even though you can have many cuttings of certain lettuces, eventually the lettuce will become tough or plants will go to seed—at that time they are no longer going to produce good leaves. I decided to plant two rows of seeds –  one Mesclun or Spring Mix and the other was a variety known as Boston or Butter lettuce. In approximately one week, I began to see little green sprouts. Within one to two more weeks I should have lettuce I can cut. When you plant lettuce you should weed the area well because you won’t be able to weed again until the plants are larger for fear of pulling out a plant. Now you can enjoy fresh from the garden salads well into September (weather permitting).

Enjoy these last few weeks of organic gardening. I know I will. Please share your experiences of this past season as well as tips and ideas for the months ahead.  Happy Gardening and don’t forget to eat seasonal produce and support your local farmers.