I am not ashamed in the least to admit that I became a very lazy gardener last summer. We set a new record for the most number of days over 100 degrees. There was little reason to attempt growing anything from June through September. Because of water restrictions and drought, there was no way to keep anything but the hardiest and drought tolerant plans alive.
Here is where the lazy part comes in. When my lettuce bolted (began to flower) in June, I should have gone out and pulled the plants. For whatever reason I never made it out there to do the necessary chores and at some point those now growing huge with blooms lettuce plants simply stayed where they were. By July those flowers were drying up and I could see that seeds were set to go flying. I thought I might live to regret the decision, but July was even hotter than June and I never got around to pulling the plants.
Fast forward to January and I think lazy was the way to go. In fact, I am going to say that maybe it wasn't lazy at all. Really I was just planning ahead!! Here is my lettuce bed as of last Friday.
We have been harvesting lettuce all month!! This has been an especially warm winter, so I haven't once covered anything in the garden and yet my lettuce lives on despite the occasional dips into the 20s. There are at least 3 different varieties growing. Now the difficult part of being a lazy gardener is knowing what is weeds and what is edible greens.
As we were finishing up our work inthe garden for the day, the kids discovered a new area beyond the confines of the garden where the lettuce has taken root. In this area, distinguishing the weeds from the greens wasn't as difficult!
I do wonder if I will live to regret "planting the natural way" once the soil begins to warm a little more. We may have enough greens to feed the neighborhood soon!
