Heat-resistant lettuce experiment

Wow, I am so impressed with your results. I'm starting a list.

Thanks,

Karen

I wish now that I'd done the same thing with some of the leaf lettuces.

I have major lettuce envy... can't wait 'til fall and I can grow some of these lovelies!

Thanks so much for sharing your experiment with us, LTilton!

Oh, Jill, we've come this far with our little experiments; why not plant some now under the shadecloth and see what happens?! My tomato plants are giving up so I could plant a few seeds under the vines for some added cooling. Now... where to get the seeds?

Under my shadecloth is still pretty darn hot, TF. Plus, it's my EB ghetto under there, no actual dirt. I'll just tough it out and wait for it to be a more likely success. I'm actually still seeing fruit set on my tomatoes, so I'm probably going to let them keep going for a bit longer, until I've got starts for my fall crop ready to plant out.

I do have lettuce seeds from my winter planting if you want some... LMK and I'll check and see what's in The Box.

L Tilton, just wanted you to know that you inspired me to sow some lettuce and spinach seeds in my flower border. :D The rain and not-too-hot weather have been perfect for some "Farmers Market Blend" leaf lettuce seeds from Renee's Garden to sprout beautifully. They only get about 4-5 hours of sun but are coming up nicely and have recognizable leaves already. And, as you noted with your lettuce, the rabbits (so far) have left them alone.

Next year I'll look for Summertime and some of the other head lettuce you planted. Thanks for the great info!

I think summer lettuce likes shade. Definitely lots of water. Pick young for baby greens.

Another thing I think worth more investigation for hot weather are the mini-lettuces that are supposed to mature in just a month or so. I've got a mini-butterhead called Tom Thumb, that I like, and a mini-romaine called Little Gem, that I'm trying.

I'll look for those two ASAP. Thank you, L T !

Drat!!! My lettuce is bolting.
I guess I'll be eating chard now.

OK, it's July, the month of decision. The experimental row of lettuces is now 2 months old, and most of them should be mature or getting there.

The Summertime iceberg is just as crisp as can be, forming heads. This kind of lettuce takes up quite a bit of space and doesn't like to be crowded, so I'll be harvesting it starting now, although the heads aren't as fully-formed as I hope they'll be later. No sign at all of it bolting at this point.

This is one of the heads of Summertime I picked today. I look forward to seeing how much more it will head, although I don't expect anything like the green bowling balls they sell at the supermarket. The problem with growing iceberg is having to discard all the wrapper leaves that are damaged before you get anywhere near the heart.

This was really crisp and good.

The Adriana butterhead is getting mature. I haven't picked any from this row yet, as I still have some from the earlier planting, which didn't bolt, after all. Since the germination was so poor, I hope I have enough to last til the end of July to finish out the experiment.

In comparison with the Tom Thumb mini butterhead, I note that Adriana has less of the soft, buttery texture one expects from this kind of lettuce. It's more on the crisp side. I wouldn't call it my favorite butterhead and will be on the lookout for another heat-resistant variety next year.

This is my favorite from the experiment, the Nevada batavia lettuce, really getting mature. I've never grown this kind of lettuce before, but I certainly will from now on! I can see why they call it "summer crisp".

Last and least - the Jericho romaine. A lot of people praise this one, but it's been a disappointment for me. As the photo clearly shows, it's nowhere near mature at 2 months, not at all ready for harvest. It's gotten crowded in there, though, so I thinned out the row and discovered a bit of stem starting already at the base of the heads that I cleaned for tonight's salad.

I'm betting it will all have bolted by the end of July.

Maybe it would have done better in another location, but I'm not encouraged to try Jericho again, not after the great generic romaine I had from the spring transplants.

Behind the romaine is a glimpse of the remaining New Red Fire leaf lettuce, fully mature now yet still holding. This was planted April 18 and would be well within its rights now to be going to seed.

I'll certainly plant this one again!

Thanks for all the details of your experiment, LTilton! I'm getting ready to buy seed for my fall/winter garden, and I've learned a lot from you about which lettuces might be worth the effort. I am a little surprised at how poorly your Jericho did; mine was great and hung in without bolting until early May--temps in the mid 90's. Of course, I never was patient enough to let it properly head, we were eating it as a leaf lettuce, about 6 leaves at a time. Might have made a difference. :)

What have your temps been like? I'm wondering how they compare to our springtime, which is when our lettuces start bolting.

Well, the whole point of the experiment is to let it head and see how far it can go w/o bolting, so I have mostly refrained from harvesting this row except for thinning. I want to have some heads last till the end of the month!

It's not been an extremely hot season so far. Temps get into the upper 80s for a bit, then fall back with a cool front. No 90s, no long-sustained heat over a week.

I recall last year, particularly August, was a real scorcher that none of the lettuce survived, but the Summertime made it to the end of July.

I've got another part-row of Jericho up, need to get it thinned out if it's going to have a chance to reach August.

jill - Territorial seed has a catalog of varieties for fall - to - winter planting, including cold-tolerant lettuce.

Thanks for the suggestion, LTilton. I've had good luck with Territorial in the past (although their shipping always seems on the high side to me...) Cold isn't usually too much of a problem around here, although in the last couple of years we've had a hard freeze once or twice, down into the 20's over night (I know, I know, spoiled...☺ we're making up for it now...). I will give them a look-see!

I've re-thunk the great lettuce experiment. Here's LTilton's weather forecast for this week: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Glen+Ellyn&state=IL&site=LOT&textField1=41.8665&textField2=-88.0626&e=0

And here's mine: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?site=PSR&llon=-112.701247&rlon=-111.478747&tlat=34.179584&blat=32.959584&smap=1&mp=0&map.x=137&map.y=145

The weather guys on TV and radio are actually predicting 114. Anyhow, what's a degree or two in Hades?

gotta love the midwest! summers can get really humid, but we've had fairly mild weather so far.

so i knew nothing of bolting and put out some leaf lettuce and romaine. should i just rip off a leaf now and then and taste it to see if it tastes bitter? will it be a huge difference in taste or slight?

It comes on gradually at first. Look to see if the core is starting to turn into a stem.

As long as you've got it in, why not see what it does? Try watering it a lot and maybe give it some shade. As summers go, this one isn't so extreme. Yet. And you can always eat leaf lettuce young, anyway.

stem in the core. thanks, i'll look for that. I'm learning so much here!

there is a treeline that provides some shade in the early part of the day, so maybe that will help too.

indy - here is what I mean about the stem developing.

This is one of the disappointing Jericho romaines - see how there is a space developing between the lowest leaves. This one is just starting to bolt.

oh hell, you didn't mean the top? my bottom leaves fell off long ago. bolted?

No, it's not the leaves falling off, it's the stem stretching so that the leaves become spaced out along the stem instead of forming a rosette with a core.

Here is a picture http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/YGLNews/images2/lettuce-bolting.jpg of bolted lettuce.

woo hoo. mine's still good but i'll keep an eye on it. thanks for the information.

What a fabulous experiment. This has been so fun to read through. I didn't think I could grow anything but early spring or fall lettuce here in Kansas, but now I'm wondering if I couldn't get a bit of summer lettuce to still grow here too. I've got a shady flower bed that I just took iris out of (it used to be sunny), and wonder if I couldn't try some lettuce in there instead of just letting it sit all summer. I've tucked a few rooted inpatiens in it, but still have lots of room. I would just love to have lettuce later in the year. I did have great luck with November planted lettuce in my cold frame , so this could get me just about year around. Wow! Thanks for the inspiration. I too have now made lists.

Try Burpee's Gourmet Blend leaf lettuce. I have a really nice little plot of it. It was quite a surprize as the seeds were from 1994 !! (And they still sell this) The best thing is this blend stands up to the heat. Good lettuce right from the garden or soak in ice water for extra crispiness.

You have convinced me. I have 2008 packets of Burpee's gourmet blend and bibb blend lettuce I was saving until fall. Last fall I had no luck with them but now I am going out to plant them in small containers that I can place in shade. I have baby tomatoes, cucumbers, and summer squash and just planted beans. I really wanted home grown lettuce with the tomatoes and cucumbers. Thanks. Carol

The Burpee Blend had an inner foil pac which must have done the trick!

Here is the link for the Burpee Gourmet Blend.
http://www.burpee.com/product/id/102895.do?KickerID=100429&KICKER

Yes! I planted Burpee gourmet blend, Burpee bibb blend, and Livingston select (from Ace hardware - my favorite so far) on 7/4. I used 6 inch diameter containers, 3 each. Today (3 days later and over 90 degree weather yesterday - in the shade of the tomato containers) I have sprouts. I bet if I keep them in the shade, they will grow.

I now have baby tomatoes, baby cucumbers, baby summer squash so far, and sprouted bean plants. This gardening hobby might just work this time. I am resprouting summer squash and cucumbers to plant in any holes I can find. Most of the squash did not like where I put them and most of the cucumbers did not climb the trellises I placed them by. The new squash sprouted and grew a second set of leaves really fast. Maybe I was pushing things too fast in the spring. Whatever. I like lettuce mixes much better than summer squash anyway. Carol

Those foil packs are indeed a good idea, only they show all too clearly how few seeds there are in a packet.

You're going to laugh, but I'm going to ask this anyway. I ripped off part of a romaine leaf to taste it and a bit of thick milky stuff seeped out of the leaf. Is that normal? I've never torn lettuce and had anything but clear stuff come out of it, but then again, the lettuce wasn't still in the ground, either.

Carol: If your cucumbers won't climb, you might try positioning them and tying them to the trellis with bits of string every few days. That's what I'm doing with mine. Their spindly little "grab on" vines don't seem strong enough to hold yet, so I'm tying them up by the stalk. I hope they'll be able to support the fruit, but if not, I'll rig something up.

Grub worm got one or two of my lettuces. I threw him out but I hope he doesn't have a lot of friends.

Indy: thanks. Thought the cucs would climb by themselves. I tied cucs with string to 2 trellises so far. Looks like the 3rd cuc set is too short to climb.

Last year I had a cuc climb by itself, so thought all would do so. But, of course I had to try several different types. I keep learning.

Carol, I don't know if it would make any difference with your cucs but I have found mine climb the trelises really well only when I plant them on the south side. Good ol' prairie wind I guess. I think it blows them off when they're on the north side. Might be the variety of cucumber though as I do have mini pumpkins climbing the north side quite well. The string idea sounds good. I've also used strips of old panty hose as it's soft and won't cut through if the wind blows them about. Hope you have a little more sheltered area then I do.
Kathy

I got this from SSE its a lettuce mix . I can't remember all of the varieties but i do know one is deer tongue.
just thought i would share it. LOoks very similar to what you have jozeeben.
I only wish i put them closer together .
tomorrow morning i am going to thin them out. eat salad for lunch :)

Looks like you've got a lot of some red romaine.