Topic: anyone for lettuce

[johhnyco15]

as  normal spring fever gripped me planting out far too many lettuces  and yes they all come at once i have others at different stages from just set to these monsters however how many does one need ?

[galina]

Nice looking lettuces. 

Invite friends to a BBQ - that should take care of a few as salads always go well.  And you could give them a lettuce each to take home too ;)

I think the problem isn't so much having a glut now, there are solutions, but not having any lettuce in a month's time.  Time to sow more.  Lettuce does not germinate well in heat, so take the opportunity of a cooler day for your second sowing. 

[squeezyjohn]

It's just amazing to see photographic evidence of an allotment site where it's possible to grow lettuces in the open without them being eaten.  If I did that on my site they would have disappeared long ago!  All my lettuces have to content themselves under netting in between my brassicas.

[Beersmith]

It's just amazing to see photographic evidence of an allotment site where it's possible to grow lettuces in the open without them being eaten.  If I did that on my site they would have disappeared long ago!  All my lettuces have to content themselves under netting in between my brassicas.

Really strange. On my site pigeons will completely trash peas, totally destroy brassicas and surprisingly they will ignorance lettuce. Totally inexplicable. Hereabouts they also seem happy to ignore sweet corn even when very young. Just thankful for this as it reduces the number of  crops that need to be grown under cover for their entire lives.

[squeezyjohn]

We've got the full monty when it comes to pests ... mice, voles, rats, rabbits (the baby ones at this time of year will squeeze through chicken wire!), pigeons, pheasants, partridges, deer, muntjac, slugs, snails, leek moth, cabbage white and probably many more I'm not aware of.  You just can't keep them all out.

I used to think that some things like potatoes, tomatoes and squash were safe, but this year something big ate my tomato leaves and something mouse like has eaten a load of potato leaves ... I'm not kidding!  Everything I really want to keep has to be under nets and sometimes they get in to those!

Still ... it's great soil! 

[BarriedaleNick]

The cos type lettuces tend to get done over by the pigeons but they leave the others alone.
I can never get the quantity of lettuce right - either they all get slugged or I end up with 20!

[breenalipally]

Mine always seem to be ok too, although cabbages get destroyed.  I don't know why.

[breenalipally]

I tend to pick a few outside leaves as I need them rather than pick the whole lettuce.  This lot should hopefully last about 6 weeks before they go to seed, ive got a few more to plant out in a couple of weeks and keep doing that every 2-3 weeks.

[johhnyco15]

blackcurrants have been really big and sweet this year too