Let Us Admire Lettuce

Yes, let us!

The two veggies that almost have me nominated as Organic Gardener of the Year are my cucumbers and lettuce.  After the last vermicompost application, the cukes are growing all the way up the hill, and the lettuce just keeps going and going and going...

 With any luck, these will grow right up to the door, and I can just pick them while standing on the porch!

Since I've focused quite a bit on cucumbers here and here, I thought I'd give lettuce some props as well.

Although lettuce-flavored items are in short supply (ok, I couldn't find any), there are some interesting facts about lettuce you might not know:

-There are 5 types of lettuce: romaine (or cos), butterhead, leaf, stem, and crisphead. Leaf is the most popular.

-Lettuce grows better in cooler summer weather than in the hot humid type.

-Lettuce has shallow roots and does not respond well to overwatering.

-One cup of leaf lettuce has only 9 calories!

WORM UPDATE! The worms have been eating their way through the summer, munching frequently on watermelon rinds, banana peels, and strawberry tops- typical fruit salad fare.

They particularly enjoyed the scraps from my recent creative creation, minus the quills in this pic:

Keep in mind I added the skewers once the porcupine made it to his final destination to complete the spiky look!

More wormy updates from in the bin coming up next...