First Lettuce Harvest of the Season

Today was perfect for picking lettuce leaves especially after the rain we got this past week.  The cool weather also helped them and it showed when I started harvesting the plants and how big the leaves were.  They were similar in size to my spinach leaves that were picked last month.

I probably could have picked some leaves in mid to late May if I wanted to, but I wanted to make sure that the leaves got as big as they possibly could.  Most of the plants had large lettuce leaves which were the oldest and the first ones harvested.

Some people wait until the entire plant is done to harvest lettuce.  I like to pick the leaves periodically no matter what type of lettuce plant they are.  Even with iceberg I pick at short intervals and they will continue to grow more leaves until the weather gets too warm.  They are very similar to spinach and they will bolt at the first sign of hot temperatures or if I leave the soil dry too long.

I got 39 leaves and a weight of 2 pounds from my lettuce plants.  There are still plenty of leaves to pick and I can’t wait to consume the leaves and pick more.

My ruby glow hybrid was not quite ready yet and I am waiting for them to grow some more leaves before harvesting them.  I can’t wait to pick them because I have never eaten a ruby colored lettuce leaf before.  It will be interesting to see how it tastes.

It is almost time to start picking strawberries sometime this month as well.  I checked on them today and tasted a few and probably another day or so they will be ready to go.  Another sunny day will be exactly what these berries need to be completely ripened.

My tomato plants are also growing quite well and the first batch that was planted in the garden needed to be tied to the stakes that were placed next to them.  They were starting to fall over just a little and now that they are getting flowers they should be getting fruit very soon.

The other tomatoes will soon be tied to stakes as well.  I would say another week or so and I will be tying all of them to stakes.

Corn and bean seeds are beginning to sprout and it won’t be long before I plant the last of the corn tomorrow.  This will be the last section of the season.  Last year I did 5 sections this year I am sticking to three and I think that should work out just fine.