Topic: summer salads

[aquilegia]

Are there any varieties of leafy salady things that cope better with the heat? Mine are all bolting. :(

[ancellsfarmer]

Suspect its due in major part to the long dry period during April, the plants just want to produce a survival chance by seeding, its only natural.
 Best practice would have been by mulching before the ground dried out. Its called 20/20 hindsight!!

[galina]

Are there any varieties of leafy salady things that cope better with the heat? Mine are all bolting. :(

Sow again and keep sowing Aquilegia.  Loose leaf varieties tend to cope better with heat.  Batavia lettuce is said to be the most heat resistant.  You might also consider sowing a pack of mixed salad leaves for continuity and a mix of varieties that mature at different times. 

[aquilegia]

thanks.

I've grown CCA ones and japanese things (mizuna, something like that). All in pots, so they've been watered regularly. Can't grow food in the ground becauese the slugs and snails eat it before I can. I've been sowing a new pot every few weeks. I've got two that have produced and are now bolting, the rest are still seedlings. Think I might have a salad gap soon.

[galina]

Aquilegia, when a lettuce bolts you can see two different leaf colours.  The leaves with ordinary colours can still be picked and eaten, they won't be bitter.  It is only the darker drier and smaller leaves that are bitter.  Another way of avoiding a lettuce gap is to lop the bolting tops off.  Sideshoots will develop quite quickly that can be eaten like normal lettuce.

Both methods should bridge the gap to your next proper lettuce harvest. 

[johhnyco15]

took this home today from the plot for our tea a nice summer salad all thats needed is feta cheese and chorizo  job done

[Plot22]

This year I have grown all my Spring and Summer Salad Leaves, Lettuce and Spinach in pots and trays in the greenhouse and cold frame. The reason being that if for instance I grow half a row of spinach at the allotment  then half of it either goes to seed and or does not get used. The lettuce gets covered in white fly and soil when it has rained and summer leaves are a no go at the allotment. This year we have had salad leaves and spinach from early March and nothing gets wasted. On the lettuce side I usually grown Lollo Rossa lettuce with varying degrees of success but this year I have grown Navara from pelleted seeds. It is resistant to white fly with a 100% germination rate and is a beautiful lettuce. I set half a dozen seeds in a pot then pot them on into individual pots when they are big enough. I may try and grow them up to Christmas .With this years success and no wastage I will do the same next year.

[Seacarrot]

I always do well with a few spare lettuce in a hanging basket by the back door.

The slugs never make it up there.  Yet.

[ancellsfarmer]

I always do well with a few spare lettuce in a hanging basket by the back door.

The slugs never make it up there.  Yet.

Dont become complacent!
 Have found snails 30feet up a Bramley apple tree. Always have wondered if the apples drew them up, or whether they were speeding along and just couldn't stop.

[johhnyco15]

first wave of lettuce is almost over now tucking into second sowings lepricorn   saladin webbs wonder and one from lidl thats hard A to remember and B even harder to spell

[johhnyco15]

first cucumber today to go with my saladin lettuce and some fresh dug potatoes and apple mint  boy i love the taste of summer

[galina]

If all else fails a quick way to replenish salads is to buy a 'living salads' pack.  These contain dozens of plants just right for planing out 

[aquilegia]

I had to buy a lettuce (wasn't very nice) last week and will have to get some again this week. But I have lots of seedlings growing, they seem to be taking their time!

I'm always a bit wary of those packs of salad seedlings, think they might just bolt when transplanted.

[ancellsfarmer]

Living salads:
Not my experience regarding bolting, not worse than other sources. The varieties in LIDL sourced trays are generally of a type which result in good, leaf harvestable yields. Because they are closely sown, I tend to prick out in small clumps, sometimes into 70mm pots and give shelter.I only use them as early source before ones sowings succeed. I suspect that they are treated with fungicide at point of production because they do not 'damp off', this would explain why they survive in adverse conditions(LIDL!)
Excellent value @ 99p for upwards of 80 plants, less than 1 tasteless iceberg.

[aquilegia]

That's good to know, Ancells.

[Hector]

Rocket and Coriander bolting but Deer Tongue lettuce doing great....had salad every day :)