Freckles is a Great Winter Lettuce
Freckles is a Romaine-type lettuce with medium green leave and attractive red splotches. Great for winter growing in USDA zones 8 or higher
Freckles is a Romaine-type lettuce with medium green leave and attractive red splotches. Great for winter growing in USDA zones 8 or higher
One of the early spring veggies to make it through last week's torrential rain is this cute little Romaine lettuce called Freckles. Assuming they make it through my current gopher scourge, these guys should color up the veggie garden's "greens and onions" bed.
The keyhole garden is in that awkward transitional stage between Winter and Spring. Winter veggies and herbs are petering out while spring plants like tomatillos, peppers, cucumbers and onions are just getting started.
Warm weather followed by a week of rain has really kicked the leafy greens into high gear. On the front left you can see the remainder of the romaine heads giving one last push. Meanwhile on the right, it's a motley assortment of loose leaf greens, spinach and cilantro. One head of broccoli remains as does the red cabbage (back and center right). The dill I have planted around the perimeter of the compost bin (center) is thick, leafy and [keep reading...]
Winter crops are petering out in the keyhole garden. Broccoli is heading out, cabbage is ripe, peas have been picked and the Romaine lettuce is about done. Just in time too. Cucumbers, more lettuce, tomatillos and tomatoes are all waiting in the greenhouse for their turn in the garden.
Temperatures have been well below freezing at night for the past week, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the keyhole garden. It continues to produce like there's no tomorrow. We've been harvesting lettuce and cilantro all week and it just seems to grow right back. Garlic, broccoli and cabbage are thriving as well.
A quick peak under the row cover shows that my lettuce and peas are doing just peachy despite that it was in the low 80's a couple days ago and now it's dipping into the 30's overnight.
80 degree heat earlier this week forced me to actually water the garden. It's quite full now. Time to start harvesting some of that lettuce and cilantro for Super Bowl snacking tomorrow.
Cool weather has turned it into a nutrient rich kitchen garden like no other! It's hard to overstate how awesome a keyhole garden is. If you’ve ever thought about building one, do it. I built one on a whim for about $100 early last spring and was amazed at how it pumped out vegetables and herbs from spring all the way into mid-autumn with basically no effort from me -- no weeding, very little watering, easy harvesting. Definitely $100 well [keep reading...]
A Pacific storm rolled in giving us about 2 inches of rain and considerably colder temperatures. Our mountains got snow, we got frost, but the keyhole garden doesn't seem to notice. The lettuces and Chinese cabbage are really leafing out and the broccoli and red cabbage are getting tall. Even the cilantro, which is kind of picky about too hot or too cold, is growing well.