A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening Attempt number 4 - Romaine Lettuce

Well even though there is snow on the ground today I'm looking at my romaine lettuce and wondering when in early spring should I be planning on starting to plant my lettuce. You would think that at a certain point I would give up on lettuce but I haven't yet. So what should I be looking for temperature wise? Nightly temperatures of what and for how long before I should put these little darlings in the ground? I know questions questions questions but I really like romaine lettuce and I want to grow it. That way I can share with my neighbors like they shared with me last year.

I am 30 mim. south of Richmond, Va. and I go by ground temp. ( around 40 F.) My first lettuce seeds are what I call "cold weather" and they go in around March 20th. and I do another crop every 10 days. My second crop is my "hot weather" lettuce and then another cold weather by late Aug. early Sept. Try Peas, spinach, onions and cabbage too around the same time.

Best of luck, I am ready to go! LOL

I feel your pain TK. I thumb through my seed packs and look over my potted plants that are stuck indoors right now, just about every other day. I'm counting the days....then if that is too depressing I count the weeks!
have you ever tried to start your lettuce indoors, then move them out later?
I'm new at fall gardening, and lettuce seems to be the only thing I can grow well during this time of the year. go figure?

Between damp off and lettuce not liking to be transplanted all that well I've given up starting it indoors. I thought I would try direct sow this year. I've got my fingers crossed.

I do lots of lettuce every year but all outdoors. I find that I loose more than a week by trasplanting them and with lettuce and the heat that's a looong time in this area. I do pick my first crop early and very small at first just to space them out better and that is the time to start the second crop, this time, more heat tolerant types and that's it untill fall.

So when do you start them outdoors? any particular thing that tells you when to start?

tk, you need to build a coldframe...just a small one would be okay for one early crop, I'd say you could plant it in late Feb. I think, not sure, you could plant the rest outdoors 2 weeks before frost date. If you want to warm the soil some before seeding, lay out black plastic for a few weeks and take it up a few days before planting.

There's a thought. I'll have to see what I can find as far as prices for the plexiglass.

TK you don't even have to use plexiglass. Just get a roll of the clear plastic from the lumber yard and attach it too a frame. You can use and old door frame. Plexiglass is nice but not sure of the cost. I use the plastic to put over the top of my plastic buckets I use to plants early things in so always have it around so use it on my cold frame lids also. It lasts pretty good but if hail ect knocks a hole in it I just take it off and put new on. I use lathes to hold it down. If you screw them on then you can just take them off and add new. Just another thought. If I get too it I plan on growing some lettuce in a cold frame this year. Jay

I don't know what lathes are but other than that it's sounding good so far. How do you get in to water the plants? And how tall is your cold frame?

I'm not sure of the spelling and it might be lath's they are wood strips of board maybe 2 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick and I've found them in 3 ft and 4 ft lengths around the lumber year here. I bought some recently and think they were around 40 cents each. The ones I get have square ends on both ends. They sell some with one end pointed. They are use for a lot of things but one common one it so attach plastic around window in the winter. Either make your door /lids where they hinge or slide. I have done both. Also it is best to have them sloping to the south for the angle of the sun. Not mandatory but I think it does help. JD

I see said the blind man lol. I have a question. How long do these cold frames last. I'm thinking wood touching ground they would rot within about 5 years. Am I wrong? Could I like make a concrete floor and build on that and increase the longevity of the cold frame? I'm old enough that I worry about having to build something down the line to replace what I have. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to work on things. I like the idea of the plastic rather than the plexiglass. That would make the top much lighter. Always a consideration with me.

I can't really say. Mine are just a year old. I have seem some use those plastic type boards. You can use anything. I used 2 x 12's I got for free. The recreation department took they off the bleachers at the ball fields. There is different patterns ect on the internet. I basically just used what boards I had and figured the size I wanted. Going to build another the size of a screen door I bought. I will put plastic on the screen door and then take it off as it warms up. JD

Just work the soil (tilt) to about 6" with plenty of organic in it. When ground temps. at night get around 45 F. just spread those seeds and water them after. In a week or so they'll start to grow but where they're too together you can use them as "baby lettuce" and space them as you enjoy them. In your/my area the best thing to do is to plant the first crop of the "cold type" and the second crop more heat resistant like reds etc.

Hey, TK. Try surrounding your smaller area with a row of brick or concrete block to keep the cold frame off the ground. I've seen folks around here do that, and they say it works really well to keep the wood from rotting as quickly. Just set the brick/blocks end to end and rest the bottom of the frame on it. I've also seen someone take a few short stakes of wood, pound them into the ground, and then just lay the plastic over the stakes to hold it up off the plants. They then used mulch, rocks, whatever to hold the plastic down all the way around. When it needed air, they just opened up one side. The beauty of this method is you don't have to measure, you don't have to worry about which way is south, and you can increase the height of the stakes if need be to accomodate the plants. The guy I saw using this method got a bunch of the free paint stir sticks from the local Home Depot to use as his stakes! LOL

Annette

Thankyou for the suggestions.