Soda bottle greenhouse for lettuce!

Not one to leave an empty soda bottle alone – I hate to throw them into the trash, I perused the Internet and discovered a simple way to make a small greenhouse for lettuce. It took only a few minutes to make and I'll be interested to see how well the Little Caesar romaine lettuce grows in this bottom irrigated device! If it works out fairly well, I plan to do a few herbs in the same manner.

Updates to come!

Romaine grows very quickly!

This beautiful half pound head of romaine lettuce I harvested this morning, was a small transplant into my raised bed in early May. That’s it there in the picture, the little guy that doesn’t look like much.

Then, just a month later and thanks to lots of sun and water. Here is the end result. Not a bad return from one little seed!

A spring salad at low cost!

Even though it has been a mite cold lately down where I live in southwest Missouri, the volunteer lettuce has done well. Overnight, the thermometer got down to 39 degrees which was a little on the cold side if you asked me. I waited for things to warm up before venturing out into the garden to harvest a small head of romaine and a single small carrot bit of which had survived the winter in good fashion.

Produce in hand; I decided to also grab a small amount of chives making sure to get a few flower tops while I did so. I had it in my mind to make a salad using whatever was leftover in the fridge.

After cleaning the lettuce and small carrot, I took a look in the fridge and found some iceberg lettuce, a stalk of celery and a small bit of bell pepper all of which had been purchased at the local grocery. The lettuce is running somewhere between a buck and a half and two bucks depending on which store you shop at. And, the bell pepper was something like $1.79, a luxury I will not be able to afford very often. Thankfully, I'm growing my own.

For a dressing, rather that store bought, I mixed up equal parts of ketchup and mayo to make a simple Ranch style mix. To this I added a little water, mixed it up and then poured it over the salad. The end result was pretty darn good for an old country boy.

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.

Factors that affect romaine growth in a cold frame.

Ah, the joys of gardening. What is supposed to be a relaxing hobby for most can be laborious if you are a compulsive person such as I am.

So, today’s topic will have to do with my previous article on growing romaine in small cold frames. The question is will I have enough time to bring small starts to maturity considering that it is now past the middle of September and time is a wasting.

In order to answer the question, I need to start with some assumptions and some observations. The first is the time it will take for my small starts to mature. That’s an easy one as the published figure is about 65 days. Therefore from the planting in mid September I have until let’s say the end of November to get them grown. That comes to about 75 days, so at least I know what my target is. That is no longer than the end of November.

Next, I want to examine the major factors that will influence plant growth; length of day or sunlight, angle of sunlight or intensity and lastly the ambient temperatures I can expect.

Length of Day

The first thing I wanted to figure out was just how much sun the plants would get. As it gets later in the fall the amount of sunlight decreases as the arc of the sun’s travel dips ever lower in the south. Here’s what I found

As you can see my location here in southwest Missouri only gets a little over twelve hours (12.2) of light at this time of year. By the end of October I’m down to 10.6 hours and then as the end of November arrives my plants will only have 9.7 hours. The times are from official sunrise to sunset, so the actual usable times are much shorter. That is why it is so important to get time your romaine starts begun in such a manner that you hit the window of maturity right before it begin to get really cold which is mid December. (I’ve found that planting indoors anytime prior to the end of August seems to work).  By that time growth pretty much stops and yet the plants don’t seem to age if protected properly. That is as long as you maintain a temperature of at least the low forties in the interior of the frames themselves. I’ve accomplished this over the last couple of winters by using a small forty watt light bulb on a timer and then covering the frames with blankets whenever I knew it was going to get really bad outside. Perhaps surprisingly, whenever it has snowed, I’ve found I don’t need the lights or the blankets as the snow acts as a great insulator and the warmth coming up from the soil does the rest.

Angle of the Sun

The next consideration would the angle of the arc of the sun in your particular locale. The chart here shows how high the sun gets at particular from June through December at my latitude. As you can see, right now in September they’re enjoying pretty decent sunlight angles which can be also described as sun intensity. Too much intensity like I find in mid July will actually burn the plants up, while lesser intensity such as exists this time of year is optimal for growth. That seems to be true until about mid October when the angles begin to get pretty severe. On a side note, I decided for fun to verify that the sun’s angle at noon was a little over fifty degrees by quickly constructing the device you see here. It just a piece of cardboard with a circle drawn on it (I used a dish) and a thin length of metal punched through the middle. The angles I drew were on the rough side, but as you can see fairly accurate. Just make sure to align the board in a true north and south direction (use a compass) and insure the cardboard is level.

Temperatures

OK, so I have the feeling that I will have long enough days at good sun intensity for at least two more months. But what about the temperatures? I would like to keep the frames open as much as possible. Well, according to data taken from last year (2009) that should not be a problem. The graph represents the actual reading taken by a local weather station just a few miles from my home. The blue line represents 32 degrees or freezing. However, that is not really a problem with romaine as it has actually survived temperatures as low as 27F in previous years outdoors. So, assuming this graph of highs and lows is pretty close to what I can expect for 2010, then I should be good to go.

So that’s the plan Jan. I will do some updates as the season progresses. If everything works out, I hope to have a picture of me enjoying some fresh lettuce out of the garden on New Years Day 2011.

Growing romaine lettuce through the winter!

I think I’ve alluded to the growing of lettuce in cold frames in some earlier blogs. Not sure, but that's part of getting old I guess. My mind goes, comes back and then goes again. But, if you're wondering whether it can be done. The answer is yes! Just make sure to check out my seed starting video.

So OK, any earlier blogs not withstanding, I decided to start twenty romaine plants from seed about three weeks prior. (I choose romaine because they can withstand cold temperatures and are generally healthier than leaf lettuce). These have now grown to transplant size (about 2 to 3 inches tall) and have been transplanted into both of my small cold frames (10 in each) that were originally built in 2008. (I produced a You Tube video on these in case you might be interested). Over the last few days, I have refurbished the frames by adding some fresh paint and resealing the glass panes in the window frames that cover the top of each. As you can see, the end result looks pretty good.

During the past two fall and winter seasons, I learned that if I started my plants early enough, I could grow them to close to maturity and then hold them in a kind of suspended animation until I got a chance to harvest them later in the year. The key to doing this was to monitor the inside air temperatures (I used a wireless thermometer to monitor changes from inside my home) and to add heat via a forty watt bulb when needed. I’ve found that by keeping the air temperature in the frames in the forty to fifty degree range, I could keep the plants healthy for a long period of time. I also had to make sure not to let the leaves touch the window panes above the plants on cold days as that would turn their tips brown. That’s one of the reasons I decided to add a little height in one of the frames (designated as CF1). It was only four inches or so, but I think that will help. We’ll see this winter how that works out.

Head-space Increase

By adding a quickly made frame made from 2x4’s onto the top of CF1, I was able to increase the head space appreciably. In CF2 and CF1 the growing surfaces are the same at about 32 inches wide by 21 inches deep (roughly 4.7 square feet each). Head space, however in CF2 is eight inches in the back which tapers to 3 inches in the front compared to CF1 which now has 11 inches in the back versus 6 in the front. The increased area should allow for larger plants. That is one thing I hope to quantify as we go through the fall. By mid November all growth will have basically stopped and I’ll do a follow up blog at that time.

Soil Condition

At the last minute, I decided not to add any amendments to the soil in either frame. A casual inspection revealed to me that the soil is dark with a high crumb structure. It also appeared to be high in humus content, so I will wait to see how well the romaine starts grow before making any changes. If needed, I have blood meal available to increase the nitrogen content. (I may elect to do a full soil test by the end of the month, but for now I want to go with my gut instincts).

So that’s the deal. I’ve cleaned up my cold frames and transplanted the young lettuce starts. All that’s left to do is hope these plants get big before the cold stops them.

Time to plant that fall lettuce!

I got out this morning and attacked the weeds that had sprouted all over my small raised beds. It was overcast for a change and also a little cooler. While I was at it, I also took out any plants that I felt whose time had come. (That was most of them).

After this arduous task was done, I trenched in some table scraps, broke up the soil as best I could and got them ready for winter. Over the next couple of months, all the scraps from the kitchen (about two pounds per week) will go into the soil. I may then elect to sow some winter rye or other cereal grain to help further improve the overall tilth. By doing this, I will be able to avoid having to purchase any amendments come next spring.

My next chore was to get a couple of starter trays ready to accept romaine seed. I plan on starting twelve plants this weekend and then another twelve next. Once up and growing (in about two weeks), they will be planted in a small section of one of the three raised beds with a few going into the cold frames in my front yard. If all goes well, I’ll have about thirty plants by the end of September (45 days from now).  A few plants will go into the cold frames for an even later harvest.

When planting lettuce seed, I try and make sure to keep them close to the surface of the soil as they require light to germinate. Also, I watch out for the temperature as I like to place my starter trays outside in the shade. If it gets too warm I make sure to bring them inside. (Lettuce seed germinate best in the mid to upper seventy degree range). A last note, if the seed I am using is fresh, I will generally plant only one per cell. If, on the other hand, they are from a previous season, I will go with two or three. You can always thin the herd later on if need be.

Romaine and Radishes!

This promises to be a really great growing season down here in southwest Missouri. We’ve had ample rain and the last few weeks have seen almost perfect growing conditions. The nighttime temperatures have been in the fifties followed by daytime highs in the seventies and low eighties. As a result my early radishes and romaine lettuce have really taken off!

The radish seed I like to use is a variety called Cherry Belle and the lettuce is called Little Caesar from Burpee Seed. I’ve been growing both for some years now and enjoy the crunchy taste of the fresh radishes and fullness of body you get with romaine. Both of these are now growing in my small cold frames (the windows have been removed) and in the open raised beds out back. My seeding of lettuce back in October is why I’m enjoying lots of fresh romaine salads right now. This is especially nice considering the cost of a head of iceberg lettuce at the market right now. Now, while I do not have this down to a science, I have been lucky enough to grow just enough plants, spaced the right amount of time apart to insure a continuous supply through mid summer. At that time, I hold off planting any more lettuce until mid August when I can get in yet another crop and then a late planting in October so the small plants have a chance to grow big enough to survive the winter months.

Lettuce seed germination research!

Here is a piece of information concerning lettuce seed germination I came across some time ago.

In related research, plant physiologists wondered why people have trouble with seed germination of lettuce in their vegetable gardens. They knew that seed germination was very high in Petri dishes in the laboratory.

It turns out that in lettuce seeds, unlike barley, a critical step in triggering seed germination is photo-activation. The seeds need to be exposed to light in order to germinate. I hope you are wondering, immediately, how germination responds to photon flux and wavelength of light!

Lettuce responds well to very low photon fluxes...it is not a photosynthetic process!

The wavelength of light is critical. The seeds germinate well in white light, but also to single "colors"...particularly red light (660 nm). On the other hand, far-red light (730 nm) strongly reduces lettuce germination.

It took a long time to identify, isolate, and characterize the photoreceptor. It is called phytochrome. Phytochrome exists in two different chemical forms: Pr and Pfr. Phytochrome in its Pr form absorbs light maximally in red wavelengths...hence Pr. Phytochrome in its Pfr form absorbs light maximally in far-red wavelengths...hence Pfr. The name of the form of phytochrome is determined by the color of light it absorbs maximally. What made characterizing phytochrome difficult was the fact that the two forms interconvert. As Pfr absorbs far-red light, it changes chemically into Pr! Similarly, Pr absorbs red light and changes chemically into Pfr.

If you think about how you might analyze a pigment (as you have done several times in lab!), you generally put an extract into a spectrophotometer and measure absorbance of a wavelength at which the pigment maximally absorbs light. With phytochrome, this is almost impossible...the light you would use to measure it, causes it to change to the other form! It is elusive!

Back to the lettuce, obviously the garden problem is planting the seeds too deep (in the dark!). Without light to photo-activate seed germination, the seeds fail to germinate to their potential. In the dark, the ratio of Pfr to Pr determines whether each seed will germinate. If exposed to red light, the phytochrome is all converted into Pfr and the seeds germinate. When the seeds are exposed to far-red light, the phytochrome is all converted into Pr and the seeds fail to germinate. Obviously the active form of phytochrome is Pfr.

Cold Frame Update for March 14, 2010

On February the 27^th, I planted by broadcast method a few Little Caesar romaine seed along with an equal amount of Cherry Belle radish seed. Both were from packets that were purchased last spring. As you can see, as of March 14^th, they have germinated well and are on their way. The temperatures during the day have been in the middle forties to low fifties while the nights have fallen in the thirties. But, the cold frames have done a good job of protecting the young seedlings from harm.

On this date, I also broadcast a small amount (about one tablespoon) of fertilizer in both frames. I used a NPK (Nitrogen Phosphorous Potassium) mix of 13-13-13 which should give the young seedlings in Cold Frame #1 and the established lettuce plants in Cold Frame #2 a boost. As a side note, when I finish harvesting the lettuce from the small Cold Frame #2, I plan to spread a little finished compost from my compost pile of kitchen scraps out back. I do this to try and insure an even pH balance is maintained. This frame will then be given a rest and will just be used to hold starter trays through the rest of the cool spring days. As warm weather approaches, I’ll broadcast a small cover crop of hairy vetch to help replenish the soil. By doing this, I will help benefit my fall planting of lettuce there.  Note: The small pot in between Cold Frame #1 (nearest) and Cold Frame #2 contains garlic plants. They are destined for the raised bed out back in  week or so.

Yes, I also need to re-caulk the window frames. They are over twenty years old and have performed well late in life. They were donated to me by a friend, Stephanie O’Neal back in 1995 and were pretty old back then. Since that time they have been repainted a couple of times, but now the window panes are falling out because the old caulk has deteriorated so much. Still, they have performed their function very well. A good motto to live by is to re-use and re-cycle whenever possible. Nature has done a great job of this for millions of years and it works really well.

It's time for some cold frame lettuce!

It’s almost March now, just a couple of days away. Here in southwest Missouri, you can see how much more bright the days are as the sun now arcs ever higher across the sky. The temperatures are now beginning to respond a little to the increased sunlight. Today, February the 27^th, it we had temps in the mid forties and I can tell you…compared to just a few weeks ago that is warm! With the window sash over the top of the cold frame the air quickly warms into the mid sixties. This is perfect weather for romaine lettuce and radishes.  I just happen to have some seed left over from last season and decided the time was right to put them to good use.

So, with no further ado, I went out this afternoon and prepped the ground in my first cold frame. The space is on the small side, but you’d be amazed at the amount of lettuce I can get from this space. The actual size is just under 24” x 36 inches of growing space or 6 square feet of total growing area. I have two of these frames in the front yard which can provide me with quite a bit of early spring lettuce. The picture at right shows lettuce that was actually planted last fall and even though the plants are small, they are a welcome addition to the dinner table.

My method of planting at this time of year is simple and stupid. I just broadcast some lettuce and radish seed in a random pattern, then wet the surface down, cover everything with newspaper and then water it again. Total time spent was about 15 minutes if that. After covering up the frame, the sun immediately elevated the inside reading to 65F while it was 46F outside. In about four or five days, I’ll take a peek under the newspaper and see what’s germinated. Because it’s still cool outside (and cold at nights) I don’t have to worry much about the top layer of soil drying out. The window sashes also act as a moisture barrier. Kind of a ‘SET IT AND FORGET IT’ deal. My apologies to Ronco.

With a little luck and some supervision, I should have a good harvest sometime in mid to late April or about the time most people are just getting started in their raised beds. Of course, I’ll post an update at that time. Happy gardening!

Say Yes to an Early Spring Salad!

Sure, it might be winter outside right now, but before you know it spring will be rushing past! That’s why even in January, I’m making seed purchases and getting ready for a fantastic garden salad harvest that will be way before my neighbors even get started!

Making this happen requires just a bit of planning, some seed starting equipment and  a small cold frame or two. (See my video on how to build a simple cold frame on You Tube). First off, you’ll want to get some seed ordered right now! I usually order mine online from one of many good outlets like Burpee Seed or Seeds of Change. My first order of the season will generally be a packet of romaine lettuce, spinach and mustard greens. (I’ll also order a packet or two of radish seed like Cherry Belle to use as markers and for an early snack as they can be ready to harvest in just 30 days).

When the seeds arrive, I’ll take a small folding table, some starter trays and a fluorescent light to begin growing my starter plants. The seed starting trays can be purchased at most garden centers or you can make your own. Just make sure to use a sterile starting medium (like Miracle Grow potting mix) to avoid disease problems like damping off.  From past experience, I will generally start about 30 seeds (a mix of romaine, spinach and mustard greens) in early February. This will generate enough salad plants early in the season to make up for the lag period while waiting for the direct seeded crops in my raised beds. These will be ready for the cold frames by mid-March. Now, since I already have romaine growing from the previous fall - (see my article Cold Frames Now Paying Off) I will just make a little room and set the tray into the cold frame for a couple of weeks or until conditions are favorable to plant in the raised beds.

In no time at all, you’ll have plenty of fresh salad greens for the table. With a little extra planning you can enjoy home grown lettuce for most of the year.

Late Fall Romaine Lettuce in Mid December!

While it might be cold outside, my mini cold frames are doing great. We’ve had a few nights when the temperatures outside have plunged into the teens! But witness how healthy the romaine lettuce is that was harvested today. The wonderful thing about having a cold frame is the way in which lettuce that was started from seed in early September is now grown but in a kind of suspended animation. Each head is growing very slowly and, even after sitting in the frame for a couple of months, is still as fresh as any I could get from the garden in the spring. I’ll tell you right now that the little bit of work I did back then to get these seeds to grow more than pays for itself as winter approaches. Just having a bit of fresh produce you have grown yourself helps to keep me going until spring gets here!