As of Jan 25 we have a row of Salanova® Red Sweet Crisp Lettuce seed sown in the test garden. We want to see if this will be a good option for a “salad bar” garden. It grows as a head of lettuce, like your romaines and icebergs, but it is a loose leaf lettuce which makes it easy to wash and perfect for quick salads.
This lettuce is a cool weather crop and we are getting it in as early as possible, with new rows sown every other week so we have plenty on hand for a while. At certain points plants will do something called “bolting” which means it puts energy into making seed rather than fruit or leaves. Most of the time it is because it is getting too hot. The heat here in South Texas will hit hard, but this lettuce is supposedly slow to bolt, so hopefully we can produce them into the spring.
Let us know what your favorite lettuce is. Understandably, that is a weird request, but maybe some of you know you like spring mixes over iceberg lettuce and things like that. Others, like me, have never really put thought into having a preferred lettuce because that is the food that your food eats.
Watson Abbey Farms 