The dog days of summer might find you at the beach – or longing for the beach – rather than in the garden. Yet mid- to late-August is the time to start your fall vegetables from seed. Lettuce is especially easy to grow, and is a great fall crop, since it likes cool weather. A new variety worth trying is ‘Sandy’, an All America Selections award winner.
All America Selections explains why this lettuce is a winner:
The first AAS winning lettuce since 1985, Sandy is an attractive oakleaf type lettuce with a multitude of sweet tasting, frilly dark green leaves. Typically not bitter when heat-stressed. Not just pretty and tasty, Sandy has exceptional disease resistance, especially to powdery mildew and is slow to bolt. Use Sandy as cut and come again baby leaf, or grow to full maturity for loose salad heads. The uniformly mounded loose heads are well adapted to both raised beds and containers. When planted with cool season flowers, Sandy will add an abundance of interesting texture to patio containers. Sandy is the second AAS Winner that is available as organic seed.
How to Grow
Direct sow in the garden or in mixed edible/ornamental combination containers. To sow lettuce directly in the garden, plant the seeds about 1/4 inch deep, tamp them down, and water. Space the sowings 10" apart. Thirty days to baby leaf stage, 50 days to full maturity. Sandy is well adapted to container gardens or raised beds.
All America Selections mission is "To promote new garden seed varieties with superior garden performance judged in impartial trials in North America." Learn more at all-americaselections.org
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By Laura Root
Photos courtesy of Jackson & Perkins
Gardeners are always thinking ahead to the next season or the next year. And, fall is the ideal time to think about spring. Flowering shrubs, perennials and spring bulbs are great choices.
Click here for an interesting article about spring bulbs.
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