Life after lettuce - What to plant?

I have very limited space in my new vegetable garden. I had a great spring harvest of greens (mesculin, pepper grass, spinach, chard, & lettuce), but would like suggestions on what can be planted after the greens are pulled.

I put peas in mine and they are doing great. WOuld love some more ideas, too.

Hope you get lots of responses (for us!). LOL!

willmetge.... I hope you didn't pull out the Chard plants.... they give an endless supply of nice greens ALL summer and fall. Simply cut off the leaves & more will form till winter... I plant both white chard & rhubarb chard. Other empty spaces can be planted with bush beans.

LarryD

Good advice! I did not realize that about the Chard. Is it too late to start some from seed?

My cut'n'come again lettuce is going nuts with all this rain - every time I think she's produced her last batch, she comes up with twice as much! I'm lovin' it!

Pulled up the last of my tatsoi and radishes today...'tis a sad thing!

Sequee... Plenty of time... plant chard NOW...... you'll have a steady supply of fresh greens all year.

Good luck!
LD

Excellent! This is the first time I've ever grown them outside and they were yummy! I grow chard and lettuce year round on the window sill - sure gets bigger outside, though!

seq..... we just had some with lunch today. I picked a plastic grocery sack full of chard leaves, washed them and wifey boiled them 10 minutes in 50/50 chicken broth / water with grated ginger root in it. YUMMMMMY!!
LD

Sounds great! I will have to remember tyhat - all ingredients I have on hand, too!

Plenty of time yet to sow bush beans, too. And cucumbers! And squash! Yummy!

And, although I'm not sure how long your summers are or when your first hard freeze it, hopefully you'll have time to follow the bush beans with some brocoli plants.

Okay, I'm going to take the plunge and plant cukes and bush beans by seed this late in the year. It was so wet and cold all spring that I never got cukes in the ground, and the lima bean seeds kept rotting. Well, the worst case is wasted time, but it's better than weeds overtaking that section of the garden. My lettuce is almost done, but heck, i figure if it keeps being this rainy and cool, I'll grow it all summer. :-)

there's a bunch of things that like cool fall weather to mature in much better than spring, purty much all the chicory family, broccoli and cauliflower, chinese cabbage. it's just the challenge of getting them started while it's hot, and commenly dry.

I was listening to Mike McGrath of You Bet Your Garden on NPR and he starts his fall lettuce now (first of July) in his cool basement under lights.

Site: http://www.youbetyourgarden.org/

This week's program (audio): http://www.whyy.org/rameta/YBYG/current.ram

I always begin preparations for my fall garden a few days after the summer solstice. Many plants begin going to seed at that point. So right now, I am clearing plants that have gone to seed and replanting lettuce of several varieties, arugula, escarole,spinach and other cool weather loving plants. Perhaps some peas and potatoes. If your plants bolt, put something else in their place. Arugula is one of the fastest crops there is. Later plant radishes, but if you don't want hot ones, wait awhile.
BTW, chard is good for the entire season, but if you want to plant some late chard, consider the Bright Lights Chard, an heirloom from Australia. It is as pretty as any ornamental plant in your garden and prettier than many. I have seen it used as an ornamental.
Lots of places sell it but the one with the most colors is Seed Savers Exchange. ( at least as far as I know.) The chard is red, white, pink, yellow and others. And, to me, it tastes better than the usual plain versions.