Earlier this summer, you couldn’t afford to buy a head of lettuce. Adverse growing conditions caused the early shortage and the resulting sticker shock at the sky-high prices of the shriveled heads of lettuce. But now, we’re all afraid to buy lettuce because of the Cyclospora outbreak, which sent many on emergency trips to their toilets.
Today, the lettuce situation in grocery stores across the country is in limbo. To buy or not to buy, that is the question. But salads? We gotta’ have salads. What else can you eat with a Ribeye Steak and a Baked Potato?
I decided to take matters in my own hands concerning lettuce. I just planted a late crop of Black Simpson Leaf Lettuce. There is still plenty of time for the plants to sprout and mature since you can really eat lettuce as soon as it pops out of the ground. I planted my little crop in one of Nancy’s raised garden beds, sprinkling in the seeds before lightly covering them with garden soil. Keep the seeds slightly moist until germination, the instructions recommend.
Lettuce is easy to grow. I have heard of other back yard gardeners filling ordinary gutter panels with dirt and growing massive crops of lettuce in those. If I can keep the chipmunks out of the garden bed, I’m hoping for a nice fall crop of lettuce free from any traces of Cyclospora.
