I planted the lettuce seeds on March 31st, and by May 17th, we had our first picking! I actually picked enough lettuce for two dinners worth of salad for the family. So, it took a month and a half from planting to harvest. Not bad. Eldest child calls it, "Home picked lettuce."
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| Bucket O Greens |
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| Lettuce row growing between the pea cages |
I also found a patch of cilantro which was self-seeded from last summer's plants. It is interesting that I have found cilantro very hard to grow in the past, but this little area that planted itself looks wonderful. I guess I have learned to let cilantro pick it's own place and time to grow. That is the main reason I don't till my garden each year. I weed the garden mostly by hand in the spring and a bit with the hoe, but I look around to see if anything desirable has started growing first. If I hadn't been paying attention, I would have dug up all those cilantro seedlings and not have any to eat now. I added a handful of chopped cilantro, garlic chives and regular chives to our lettuce salad.
The day before our lettuce picking, we harvested the rest of last year's Swiss chard and had enough to make two of our gluten free impossible quiches. I added some leftover cooked, chopped sausage to the quiche as well as some freshly picked chives and three spears of asparagus. We had the first quiche on Thursday and have one left for tonight, which we will enjoy with the rest of yesterday's lettuce!
Our peas, also planted on March 31, are coming up pretty well but they still have a ways to go before there will be anything to eat. My folks down in Oregon have been eating peas and strawberries from their garden for a couple of weeks now. They are always ahead of us!
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| Peas |
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I have yet to cut down all the excess chives. They are so pretty right now I hate to do it.
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| Chives with Calendula flowers |
