lettuce

Lettuce's season here is the winter - LSU Ag Center says planting can begin mid-August into October, then again from January into February. Once the heat of April comes, it quickly turns bitter and bolts.

Bolting is when a cool-season plant (such as lettuce and cilantro) shoot up and turn to flower. It makes the leaves bitter and unusable, and once it goes to seed it dies off.

But don't get turned off by that, because there is very little that is more exciting than a salad made from garden-fresh greens. They are so sweet, so tender, smooth like buttah. Frequently I have to pick a good deal more than I intend because once I start tasting the sweet leaves I don't want to stop. All on their own, they are amazing. Paired with other seasonal produce, and I fall off my chair with bliss.

I planted lettuce under the shade of the okra, and I noticed today they're starting to come about. I planted a bunch of stuff a month ago (August 23, 2009), and it's been slow growing, but they looked like little baby lettuces.

I like to plant a nice mix of different types, especially green and red leaf. When I harvest I just take off the outside leaves, letting the plant live and produce more leaves throughout the season.