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| Deer Tongue Lettuce (and Dill seedlings) |
Guest Post By Aicha Bangoura
With so many seed choices available at the annual Washington
Gardener Seed Exchange events this year, I was stumped on what I could
grow. I went with Lettuce and I didn't know whether or not I was setting
myself up for failure. I was tasked with planting four kinds of lettuce. A
couple of them were packaged for 2024 and were most likely not going to
germinate, but we thought they were worth a try.
I was interested when I read the names: Deer Tongue Lettuce,
‘Queen of Crunch’ Crisphead Lettuce, Oakleaf lettuce, and ‘Monet's Garden
Mesclun’ Signature Salads lettuce. It seemed like such a diverse range of seeds
to work with, but I would soon find out how some of them shared similar
qualities.
When we went over to the Fenton Community Garden in early
March, I was ready for an adventure.
I had my four popsicle sticks that listed each lettuce name
and scattered the seeds into their own rows. That was the easy part with the
assistance of Kathy Jentz, editor of Washington Gardener.
I wasn’t as confident when I was covering it up with
compost, because I was unsure of how deep the seeds should be plants, so I did
a very light dusting.
We notice baby rabbits that would run around the garden and
while common and oftentimes startling, those were memorable moments. When my
section was shielded with hardware cloth fencing material along with a
covercloth material overhead by Kathy, I felt the seeds would have a greater
chance of growing successfully.
A couple weeks later, I found out my lettuce seeds weren’t
developing as expected and there were barely signs of baby lettuces, but we
decided to give them a chance and wait for any possible changes. Unfortunately,
not much of a difference showed, especially for Oakleaf Lettuce and ‘Queen of
Crunch’ Crisphead Lettuce, so Kathy recommended that I replace them.
On April 3, ‘Queen of Crunch’ Crisphead Lettuce was
substituted to Blossomdale Spinach seeds and Oakleaf Lettuce was switched out
to arugula seeds.
Checking on the plots was always a new journey as there were
several duties that we had to handle. Weeds were constantly encroaching on
my vegetables and we had to diligently get rid of them.
By the end of April, I was pleased to notice my Deer Tongue
lettuce was growing taller. This reminded me of my science class days,
examining seeds and waiting for them to grow, but this was even more
substantial in the garden plot.
When we attended the Cathedral FlowerMart in Washington, DC,
on May 1, Kathy informed me that my lettuce was around one or two inches and at
the stage where I could eat them, but she suggested we let them develop a bit
more before I cut them, which I thought was a good idea.
At our final gathering on May 8, I harvested practically all
of my Deer Tongue lettuce with the use of clean kitchen scissors and placed
them into a handy ziploc bag. I was also surprised when Kathy pointed out that
there were some Arugula leaves growing nearby that I also collected.
In all, this activity challenged me. I came into it
relatively unseasoned, but I ended up restoring an admiration of gardening and
learned helpful lessons.
See last week's post about what my fellow intern, Lauren Bentley, grew this semester.
What are you growing and harvesting in your garden this week?
Aicha Bangoura was an intern this past spring semester with Washington Gardener Magazine.
About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 15th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).
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