The early lettuce has company. Several other varieties of lettuce, self-seeded from last year’s crop that was left to flower, just took off. Somehow, there’s tasty arugula mixed in as well. To munch on and to fill in where the voles had their fun, I let it all grow. This year’s lettuce is in there, doing fine, and should be ready not for the first day of the farmers’ market, which is this Saturday, but probably for next week. It’s all…good!
lettuce
Heading out…
The cold spell seems to be broken, the nights are going down to zero F instead of -10. Time to start moving the main act to the hoophouse. First out, some hardy brassicas: a tray each of broccoli and bok choi, and a mixed tray including some parsley that I set out a couple of days ago as an extreme cold test. This is my first year for early season brassicas, so I’m a little cautious, although I’m well familiar with their general hardiness in the fall. These probably could’ve been out earlier. In front of the table, the lettuce, with the carnage renewed. Overnight, the voles tore apart another 10 seedlings, and I noticed they’d eaten the growing points off another dozen of the red lettuce, taking the toll to 30-40, depending on whether a few recover. Measures, as in, more strategically positioned snap traps and filling in the perimeter, have been taken. In any case, no worries, there’s lots more on the grow! OK, sitting beside the trays on the table, there’s the Heater, intended for construction sites and the like, which hooks up to a regular BBQ propane tank and provides a good amount of heat for surprisingly little gas. It’s not needed yet, but when the tomatoes and other tender guys come out, it will likely be on at night.
Lettuce, peanut butter and mice
Day Two of lettuce under siege. The enterprising field mice were back overnight, munching down another half dozen seedlings (by the angled bite where the stems were severed I’m pretty sure it’s mice). I stuck in white markers yesterday to mark the spots, so it would be easy to see if they’d come back for more. This time, instead of eating them or dragging them off, they just left ’em lying there. That’s plain rude. Anyhow, they’ve had their tithe, a tenth of the early lettuce. I’m all for live and let live, but if it’s them or the lettuce killed for sport, well, it’s out with the peanut butter and mouse trap surprise. (The little emerging seedlings scattered around are from some of last year’s early lettuce left to go to seed…the crop becomes its own weed!)
Vanishing lettuce
Where have all the lettuce gone? Nine little Two Stars seedlings vanished overnight with only stubs of stem to mark their place. This is a new one for early lettuce in the hoophouse, nothing similar happened in the past. It’s probably field mice (actually, voles), particularly since no leaves were left behind. I dug around for cutworms (a pest I haven’t yet had a chance to meet)—thankfully, nothing! Whatever it was, I found where mice have tunneled in (the hoophouse sits on 4x4s bolted to T-bars pounded 3′ into the ground, IOW, a wood frame sitting on the surface, easy to tunnel under), and filled the holes, which won’t stop ’em, but will be an indicator if they’re out and about tonight. Other than that, there’s nothing else to do right now, besides starting a tray of replacement lettuce, in case the munching turns into a wholesale lettuce slaughter. Let’s see what’s up tomorrow…
Floating row cover!
It’s around 8:30 in the morning and I’m about to uncover the early lettuce. Floating row cover is a very lightweight spunbonded polyester, light enough not to crush seedlings when laid down directly on top. It lets in water and sunlight, and also retains heat, to differing degrees depending on weight. This one is medium weight, my all-purpose cover. It transmits 85% of sunlight and keeps the temperature 3-4°F warmer when the surrounding air is around zero. Over the last couple of nights, the greenhouse low was 19°F (-7°C)—the lettuce can take a little freezing, and would probably manage without cover. Still, every edge helps, and this one’s easy. Floating row cover is a common sight around here throughout the year, it’s my main organic alternative to pesticides (it keeps out certain flying insects on certain crops at certain critical times) and also gives you an edge in getting things out early and keeping them out late. Beat that frost!
Lettuce transplanted
Five weeks after seeding in plugsheets under lights, around 180 little lettuces are in the ground. Especially without a hardening off stage, they’ll have a bit of struggle in the greenhouse-hot days and subzero nights ahead, but that’s the gamble for extra early harvest. Luckily, lettuce has been good to me. I have faith. And row cover.
Heading for the sun
A first tray of early lettuce, set out in the unheated greenhouse yesterday afternoon, survived the around-zero night no problem. Lettuce is quite forgiving, and I’m forgoing the usual hardening off, going straight from the grow racks to the greenhouse ground. Although the sun feels great (it just came out now), hopefully it will only appear in breaks over the next couple of days, or the lettuce will be toast. The soaker hoses running up and down were on yesterday for a few hours to get ready for transplanting (without watering, inside the greenhouse, the ground obviously gets very dry).