Lettuce Eat!

 Here is our webpage that features lettuce and greens.


Our Favorite All-Around Lettuce
We've talked about Bronze Arrowhead for several years and it has often gotten a ranking in our annual veg variety of the year awards landing at number 1 in 2010 and number 4 in 2011.  After that, we unofficially eliminated it from competition out of fairness to the other veggies we grow.

The thing about vegetable varieties you grow over a period of time - you can gather some very interesting information about them.  

Bronze Arrowhead

	Bronze Arrowhead
	heads	weight	wt/head
2011	369	193	0.52
2012	597	268.3	0.45
2013	679	282.2	0.42
2014	419	115.9	0.28
2015	45	18.4	0.41
2016	375	199.7	0.53

2016 numbers through July 10.


We had some overall issues with lettuce head size in 2014, so it is hard to blame Bronze Arrowhead when the weather made all lettuce difficult.  But, the issue with 2015 had more to do with seed problems and farmer problems.  And, when the lettuce doesn't germinate, you don't get heads of lettuce to harvest.  In fact, the poorer than usual results over the past two years caused us to re-evaluate our lettuce production in hopes that we could turn it around.  If you take Bronze Arrowhead as any indicator, we appear to have addressed the problems fairly well.

The truly encouraging thing about this is the fact that we currently have another succession of Bronze Arrowhead in the field right now that is being harvested this week - and it looks just as good as the first batch.  So, something is going right this year.

Romaine Calm Everyone
Our most reliable and well-liked romaine heirloom lettuce is Crispmint.  We usually enjoy growing this variety and we are usually quite proud of how nicely they size up.  They look fantastic on the market table, grab some attention and they can handle some of the Summer temps.  We had some seed issues in 2014 (different supplier) and we weren't sure the strain we got was of the same quality and I really can't tell you what the deal was in 2011.  It is possible that it was our first year with this variety, but I am not willing to dig around to make sure of that right now.  (hey, you're getting a blog post in July, you'll be fine without that detail)

Crispmint

	Crispmint
	heads	weight	wt/head
2011	303	98.9	0.33
2012	171	115	0.67
2013	329	194.8	0.59
2014	261	112.7	0.43
2015	161	93.6	0.58
2016	103	61.6	0.60

2016 through July 10

What is mildly astonishing to me is the inconsistent number of heads harvested from year to year.  On the face value, it doesn't look like I'm committed to the variety.  But, when I do a bit of digging, I find some of the reasons for the variations.  For example, in 2012 (a very very wet May/June and early July) we lost a big crop of Crispmint to ponding water.  Two successions, as a matter of fact.  If they hadn't drowned, we'd be looking at about 300 head for the season.  And, in 2015, our high tunnel build messed up the early season lettuce successions (farmer issues...) resulting in at least one succession short.  It really doesn't take much for things to move. 

Love Hate Relationship

Amish Deer Tongue

I have yet to start a batch of Amish Deer Tongue for 2016.  I find that to be kind of sad since I do like the spinach-like texture of this lettuce.  The timing for this variety needs to be 'just so.'  And, if you get a storm at any point after they are at half-size, the damage doesn't really grow out of the heads.  Add to this the fact that deer actually LIKE this type of lettuce and you start to think twice about spending time on it.

I'm sure we're going to try a Fall planting and target September as the maturity date since that's when we got good harvests in 2013 and 2015.  But, I guess I won't cry too much if we don't get them in either.  There are so many other good options for us, it just may not be in the cards this year.

Now, if you are one of those people who love this variety and you buy from us at market or are in the CSA - you'd better say something!  If you do, it will get planted.  If you don't, it is up to the whims of the farmers.  Don't want that do we?


Back in the Saddle

Reine des Glaces (Ice Queen)

Ice Queen disappeared for two years, in part because it was also a bit picky about timing.  It actually had less to do with our knowledge about when to slot this lettuce and more to do with that being a difficult slot to meet.  But, the addition of Valhalla (our second high tunnel) and the plan to move that building in the Spring, we have a perfect slot and condition to grow some great Ice Queen lettuce.  This Spring we pulled in over 100 quality heads that weighed in at over a half pound on average.  The only time Ice Queen did better than that was a smaller Fall batch in 2012 that nearly weighed a pound per head on average.

There is another slot in the Fall that we will likely try to hit as well, but even if we don't, we'll be pleased with what we got out of this variety for 2016.

Hot and Cold Running Lettuce
We also grow a couple of varieties that have let us know that they really like cooler weather.  Gold Rush and Red Salad Bowl only show up very early or very late at our farm.  Once again, this gets easier to increase production of both of these when we have the two movable high tunnel system going for us.

Bunte Forellenschus

All lettuces we grow tend to prefer the cooler weather, but some of them can tolerate (and even thrive) in warmer temps.  Bronze Arrowhead, Crispmint, Australian Yellow Leaf and Grandpa Admires have all shown good tolerance to heat.

And then, there are the varieties that Fall in between - or seem to show some flexibility with some variability from year to year.  Obviously, the inconsistent response can be linked to inconsistent weather or perhaps, issues with the farmers' management of that succession.  I certainly am not sure that we can blame the variety without a bit more information to go on.

Why the Renewed Success?
We could always point to the weather or to seed sources that have changed, but we don't think that's really the root of the turning of lettuce fortunes at GFF.  The biggest issue is actually discussed in this brain storm post from last September (read the last part of the post).   Essentially, it was our lettuce crop's turn to get re-evaluated as to how we can best grow it with our farm where it is right now.

holes drilled in for drainage

Very early in our farm's lifetime, we moved from direct seeding lettuce to starting plants in 72 count trays and then transplanting these into the ground. This year, we moved on from those trays and started using these tubs.  The observed results thus far are that we feel we are using less seed, have a longer window during which we can plant and we take less room with these trays for the same number of transplants.

Less seed is a minor benefit and only occurred after we got used to the seeding process with the tubs.  On the other hand, the longer transplant window is a huge blessing for us since we are often unable to get the plants in during their optimal window with the 72 count trays.  And, if these trays take less space for the same (or greater) number of transplants, we are less likely to delay the next planting due to space reasons.

We had feared that transplanting might be more difficult, but after the first planting, it really came out as a wash.  We also wondered a bit about transplant shock since all of the plants essentially get bare-rooted with the tubs.  But, as long as we get the drip irrigation to them quickly, all is well.  In fact, we really don't feel there has been any more transplant shock other than a day or two slow down than what is exhibited by the 72 count trays.

Perhaps we're just not looking hard enough for the downsides.  I would suppose that if these fall apart after one season, that would make us reconsider.  But, for now, we're happy with how this is working.