Let us Plant some Lettuce!

On 08-30-19 I planted some Simpson Elite, Royal Oakleaf, Four Seasons, Salad Bowl, Muri MTO & Green Frills lettuce seeds indoors under grow lights.  On 10-12-19, I transplanted the seedlings into the garden.  In the past, I was reluctant to separate the individual seedlings when I transplanted the seeds into the garden.  After about 3 weeks, I would separate the young plants which would expand by 3 to 4 times, the area with lettuce plants.

This year, I separated the seedlings (3 or more per cell) when I transplanted the 24 lettuce cells into the garden.  I took care after planting the seedlings to make sure they were watered every morning for the first week or so.  Looks like the new strategy worked … only lost 3 or 4 seedlings so far and you can see from the pics below.  The four individual pics are very small lettuce plants.  We have another 6 weeks or so before the lettuce will be large enough to be picked for salads.  So we're looking at the first week of Dec to start picking.  The beauty of lettuce is they can be picked over an 8 week period.  The unpicked plants just get bigger … their leaves still taste great … whenever they are picked!