A fall mini romaine crop!

There must be something about cold frames and cool fall weather that brings the best out in crops like lettuce. I realize my best quality and largest leaves by growing plants in this manner. As you can see, this is one healthy group of plants! The leaves are so dark and crunchy that they make a solid impact as a base of any salad.

I’ve been growing a small amount of romaine and even spinach this way for some years now. I usually will start a few lettuce plants in early August and will have the resulting seedlings to transplant size by the start of September. Before I know it, I’ve got myself an award winning crop. My only regret is that I didn’t build some more of these frames over the summer. Still, by mixing these in with some store bought iceberg lettuce, I’ll have enough to last me into December.

Sure signs of spring!

Around the middle of March it might seem to many of us living in southwest Missouri that winters hold will never go away. But, if you look carefully, you will see that things are a growing in spite of her cold embrace.This serves as a great reminder for gardeners that this would be a good time to sow Cole crops or any cold hardy plant for that matter.

In my front yard are two such signs. Daffodils and Forsythia are both getting ready to burst forth into flower! Now while neither of these plants look very impressive right this minute. You just wait! Sometime next week the temperature will climb into the sixties, the birds will be singing and these guys will come out in all their glory as early (and welcome) emissaries of better times to come. In my neck of the woods you will see a lot of yellow (the aforementioned Forsythia) pink and white (dogwoods) and daffodils of course!

My only problem with this time of year is the thought of cutting the grass. I can already discern little clumps of green growing here and there. I've always wondered why someone hasn't invented a use for grass clippings! The shear biomass that is produced each year must be staggering. For my part, I never bag my clippings. I have a mulching mower that cuts the grass blades up really fine so they decompose and add nitrogen to the soil. I've never had a problem with thatch buildup by doing this and my lawn looks great!