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Post by chrysanthemum on Dec 4, 2022 14:34:04 GMT -6
Maybe that’s why I don’t know what type it really is. I learned about it from a TAMU publication but could find no seed sources in Texas. I ordered my seeds from Southern Exposure.
As I said earlier, I’m not an expert on lettuce, but my experience of eating Crawford feels (in terms of crunch and texture) more like a loose leaf or Bibb lettuce than it does like a Romaine. It grows in a loose rosette for me, not much of head. I’m really hoping to have lots of good lettuce from this planting, whatever category it best fits.
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Post by amyinowasso on Dec 5, 2022 9:15:50 GMT -6
LOL, I really didn't need another lettuce to try, but you know I have to. I was looking at Fedco's lettuce the other day and told my husband I could order every one of them. Lettuce always looks so good in catalog pictures.
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Post by amyinowasso on Dec 5, 2022 9:42:27 GMT -6
I wondered if Fedco had Crawford lettuce, so went to see. They did not, but they have a variety that though OP is a cross between butter head and romaine. They source from the breeder so it is not the same variety but one bred more recently. But apparently it is possible to cross a romaine and a butter head.
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Post by amyinowasso on Dec 5, 2022 9:43:45 GMT -6
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jan 14, 2023 14:58:03 GMT -6
I just wanted to update the thread with a picture of my lettuce from after I watered it today. This bed and a few leeks are about all the food growing in my garden right now, so this greenery is cheering. I have a little storebought lettuce in my refrigerator to use up today, but I imagine I’ll start harvesting from this next week.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 16, 2023 8:28:51 GMT -6
Chrysanthemum, That's beautiful!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jan 22, 2023 15:59:33 GMT -6
Thanks, heavyhitterokra. I’ve been really enjoying our lettuce bed this week. I’ve had several salads from it. The first couple of times I harvested, it was almost hard to tell that I had cut lettuce. Now it’s getting a little more obvious, but there’s plenty to be had, and I’m expecting the areas that I cut to grow out again. The first picture is a shot of the whole bed as best as I can capture it. The second is the part that I trimmed yesterday to get a good amount of lettuce for our lunchtime salad. The third is the base to which I also added some onion foliage and garden-grown cherry tomatoes. I had to use store-bought cucumber and peppers, though. I told my husband that the reason we can have this lovely bed of salad to pick is that I was able to save seed from the lettuce the previous year. I didn’t actually even clean and store it as I should have. Amazingly it survived the summer in our brutally hot garage hanging in a paper bag. When I went to plant late this fall, I just took the dried flowers and shook the seeds all over the bed. It was the super-abundance of seed that is giving me this great salad bed. My younger daughter was mentioning dill as a good addition to salad, so yesterday when my husband and I were working outside, I scattered some dill seed that I had saved, and I also added some commercial seed of parsley and cilantro. It wasn’t a super-abundance because I put it just in the bare areas of the lettuce bed, and most of the bed is quite full of lettuce. I wanted to put it where I would be watering it anyway. I hope some of it will come up for us because it would be a nice addition to our salads. I know herbs can be slow to germinate, and it’s going to be a bit cooler this week, so I expect that I could be waiting a while to see if I have success.
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Post by woodeye on Jan 22, 2023 20:00:39 GMT -6
I'll tell you what, chrysanthemum, those are some spectacular photos of your lettuce. I have been eating lots more salad for the last couple of months, but not home grown lettuce. Your lettuce crop photos & techniques have inspired me to grow my own. Outstanding!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Feb 8, 2023 8:04:47 GMT -6
I was going to update this thread with a couple of pictures of my lettuce, but somehow I can’t manage that right now. I will say in words, however, that my lettuce bed came through the ice storm very well under the frost cloth that my husband spread. I took it off when the ice was melting, and the lettuce looked a little worse for wear but nothing too bad. It has perked right back up, however, and yesterday I gathered enough lettuce to fill two gallon-sized bags. (I gave most of that away, but we did have a nice salad at dinner.). You can tell I made a harvest, but there’s still plenty out there for more. I’m very pleased. Edited to add: I harvested the lettuce on a Tuesday, and here’s a photo I took Wednesday after our clouds moved out. The lettuce was happy to get a half inch of rain, I think. You can see where I gave it a haircut toward the top left mostly, though I selected a lot of different patches.
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Post by macmex on Feb 8, 2023 8:53:08 GMT -6
I need to get mine planted. I have a standing request from my wife that I do this! Hopefully soon....
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Post by hmoosek on Feb 8, 2023 10:51:02 GMT -6
Same here. I have a package of Jerico that I got from Remy a few years ago. It’s supposed to be a heat tolerant type from Israel.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Feb 9, 2023 20:23:03 GMT -6
I’ve heard good things about Jericho lettuce, but I’ve never grown it. I’ll be interested in hearing how it does for you. I always like hearing of heat tolerant varieties, but I still wouldn’t wait much longer on lettuce down here in Texas. I wouldn’t have imagined it really, but we get hotter weather on average than Israel does. I guess that the Mediterranean helps moderate the heat, but they do suffer much more drought. Here’s a link where I did a comparison to Battir in Israel to the city of Palestine, Texas to show the average temperature throughout the year. If you scroll down further, you’ll see the average rainfall, too. I’m hoping to grown a drought-tolerant eggplant variety from Battir, so I was doing some reading on the village/city. The use an interesting system of irrigation there that was put in place way back in Roman times, I believe. weatherspark.com/compare/y/98822~9332/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Batt%C4%ABr-and-PalestineIf you look at the link, the green says “Palestine” but remember that that is Texas, not the Middle East. I suppose I made it confusing with my choices. Sorry about that.
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Post by rdback on Feb 10, 2023 10:34:01 GMT -6
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Post by hmoosek on Feb 10, 2023 12:31:01 GMT -6
Pretty smart. I never thought about doing that.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Feb 10, 2023 14:30:54 GMT -6
I have to admit that I really enjoy that climate comparison tool. I’ve played around with it a good bit. It’s pretty neat the information one can find out these days, and some of the results are pretty interesting. It helps me understand other folks’ gardening conditions a bit better, too.
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