Garden Update

Celtuce or Stem Lettuce

A different kind of lettuce—The “Don’t pick this lettuce” sign in the VegHeadz garden drew my attention.   It was placed in a bed of healthy looking lettuce with very large pale green leaves. It looked like it was ready to make a salad. Further investigation revealed that it is celtuce or stem lettuce, which is grown not only for its leaves, which are more bitter than leaf lettuce, but for its crisp and fleshy stem which is most often used in stir fries.  The stem is sort of like a broccoli stem and should be peeled before eating, much like the tough outer skin of broccoli.  The remaining stalk can be eaten raw or cooked.  It has a mild nutty refreshing flavor.  It's so much fun to try growing new things.  This one seems to be a big success.  Can't wait to taste it.

Beets—We've had very limited success growing beets in the VegHeadz garden and at home.  The 4-H kids who garden next to us have shown us how to do it.  Beets planted in a grow bag in late August are ready to harvest.  It's worth noting that soaking beet seeds before planting improves their germination, and that beet seeds are really a cluster of  two to four seeds, so thinning is important.  Also notice that the growing time to reach maturity was more like six months, rather than the 6 to 8 weeks usually stated on seed packets.  One reason is that we grow beets in cool weather which slows the development process.  The beauty of the 4-H beets gives us incentive to try growing them again.  Thanks 4-Hers!

Beets in a grow bag

Beets ready to harvest.  The leaves
are edible too and full of vitamins

Another project completed a couple of weeks ago is a bamboo trellis for our passion flower vines.  We had a pile of bamboo on hand--more than we needed for stakes.  And the passion flower vines were in much need of some additional support.  They are the larval host for Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charithonia) butterflies, the Florida state butterfly.  We love how this project turned out.  The bamboo trellis should last several years before we need a new one.  We'll all enjoy the Zebra Longwings gardening with us.

Last week several gardeners noticed that scale insects had invaded the bay laurel adjoining the food forest.  They could have sprayed with horticultural oil or soap, but scale insects are hard to control as their hard shells and waxy coating protect them from most insecticides.  Also, since bay leaves are used as seasoning, it's not a good idea to use even organic insecticides.  Instead our gardeners showed up with castile soap and tooth brushes to scrub the scale off each leaf.  It's a good thing the plant isn't bigger.  The existing leaves still show signs of the scale damage, but there will be less scale to invade new leaves.  What attention to detail.  

And on a final note, the crimson clover cover crop we allowed to go to seed last year is thriving.

Cathy, Cathi, and Linda with their
toothbrushes

Crimson clover, growing from last
year's seeds