2020 Garden Update: May 28

Today marked the end of the lettuce season here in my North Alabama garden. Our salad at lunch definitely had a bit of a bitter, bolted edge to it, which told me it was time to pull up the lettuce patch and get ready for the next crop. Just recently the weather turned steamy, with 85 degree days and lots of rain, and the lettuce decided it was time to move on to the next phase of its life cycle. My family ate a lot of lettuce since our first harvest on March 10, so the lettuce patch was definitely a success!

I grew three kinds of lettuce this year - Merveille des Quatres Saisons, Little Gem, and Salad Bowl. The Salad Bowl seeds were left over from 2019 but germinated just as well as the 2020 seeds. Little Gem proved the favorite with the family, although the Quatres Saisons provided some red color and a different texture that enhanced our salads. I would grow all three again, but I'm also eager to try out some different varieties if I get the right weather for a fall lettuce crop. I've already ordered several packets of new lettuce seeds from Baker Creek to experiment with if we get the cool weather for it in October or November. Sometimes North Alabama goes right from summer to winter, so I won't know until we get there!

My runty carrots have mostly been pulled in service of our salads, and the green peas are seven feet tall and showing some signs of the heat, but the rest of the garden is just now getting into gear. I have several baby lemon squash, a slow but steady trickle of Husky Cherry Red tomatoes, and so many baby cucumbers that I'm a little worried about what we're going to do with all of them. The lemon cucumber plant has become a behemoth that threatens to take over the whole patio, but I'm too charmed by its massive size to do anything about it except create ever more support. I'm curious to see just how big it will get.

The pandemic continues to affect our errands and projects as we stay home in spite of our state's rush to reopen. I'm glad to have the garden to keep me busy and provide fresh produce for the household. The pollinator patch is a jungle of growth, the daylilies are beginning to bloom in earnest, and we have a family of house finches nesting in our carport, so each new day brings something of interest to see in the garden. Soon my blog posts should be full of cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes!