Lettuce - Raising, Harvesting, Preparing and Enjoying

Lettuce - Raising, Harvesting, Preparing and Enjoying

Hip. Hip. Hooray! The lettuce is abundant in the garden.  I and my budget could not be happier.  I buy nine heads of various leaf lettuces every month.  My family enjoys salads year round.  We also enjoy lettuce on our burgers, sandwiches, and burritos.  The most amazing salad creation of all is our heuvos rancheros salad. I'll add that recipe at the end of this post. If you don't raise your own lettuce, this article has benefits for you also, just skip to the preparing and enjoying sections.

Raising Lettuce

• It all starts with seeds.  I order mine from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  I prefer salad blends to planting just one or two varieties of lettuce. This year I ordered 1 oz. of Rocky Top Lettuce Mix Salad Blend.  
• Preparing the lettuce bed.  I set out a string between to stakes to ensure my row is straight and with the hoe I begin to build a small mountain range, following the string.  
  This photo shows onions.  The dirt mountain range is the same one on which the lettuce is planted.  The lettuce is just out of view of the camera. 
• Along the ridge of the mountain range that was created with dirt, plant the lettuce seeds. Lettuce seeds are very small.  I have mixed them with sand before to assist in sowing them thinner but of late I just plant from the packet.  I decided when they emerge I'd eat the thinnings. 
• I place a soaker hose atop the seeds and give them a good watering daily until they begin to sprout.  Then depending on rainfall, I water every other day.  The soaker hose has many advantages.  I don't lug watering cans, and the water flows gently from the small holes so I don't wash the tiny seeds away.

Harvesting:

 This is full grown lettuce, well most of it is full grown.  I planted them closely to crowd out weeds and thin as they grew.  Thinning is a process of taking the larger, "ready" plants or the sad, sickly ones out of a crowded bed to make room for the smaller, healthy plants to grow.  To do this thinning: 

1. Isolate a large, ready lettuce by parting the other plants and reaching down to the dirt.  Grasp your lettuce firmly and pull straight up. 
   like so.
2.  The newly picked lettuce will look something like this:
   Now cut or break off the roots and about 1/2 inch up the stem, just about where my thumb is. I snap it off high enough that the leaves fall loose into the colander.  

Preparing 

Your lettuce is full of dirt and perhaps bugs.  Dirt and bugs are not tasty to eat. Neither is pesticide, so even purchased lettuce needs to be washed and soaked.   So I recommend a veggie wash.  To wash the lettuce, I fill the sink with cold water and add about 2T of white vinegar (a healthy glug from the bottle will suffice)  and 5 drops of lemon EO*.   Swish the lettuce in the water and let it rest in the water for about 1/2 an hour. 

 Lift the lettuce out of the water, trying not to disturb the water.  The dirt has settled to the bottom of the sink. Being careful will keep the dirt off the lettuce. 

Yep little green worms.  These were hiding in my veggies. Not tasty eats!

Place the lettuce in a towel pull the ends up and head outside. (yes outside)  Holding the ends tightly,  spin the towel around in a circle.  Spinning will create centrifugal force which will throw the water off of the lettuce.  Store the lettuce, in the refrigerator, in a zip top bag or storage container lined with paper towels.  The lettuce will keep for about a week.

Enjoying 

Heuvos Rancheros Salad

Ingredients:

sour cream

can of black beans, rinsed or 1/2 c. dried beans cooked and cooled

salsa

lettuce

butter or oil for frying egg

eggs (one for each person)

shredded cheese

Directions: 

1. On a dinner plate, swirl about 2T sour cream
2. Top with the desirable amount of lettuce, usually a large handful
3. Top lettuce with 1/4 c. black beans
4. Fry egg and top black beans with freshly fried egg
5. Garnish the egg with salsa and shredded cheese.

Serve and eat promptly.

*Bloggers note: Lemon EO will break down sticky substances and petroleum products.  Pesticides are petroleum based.  If the veggies set for about 1/2 an hour the lemon EO will break down the sticky substances that hold the small worms, eggs, and parasites to the veggies.  Lemon EO contains anti-oxidants which preserves the washed veggies longer in storage.  Healthy veggies contain enzymes which are good for human digestion but cause the veggies to spoil.  Refrigeration, anti-oxidants, and the moisture absorbing paper towels will keep the food waiting and edible a few days more.