In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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April 30, 2007

The First Harvest

The tag on my romaine lettuce said it would take 85 days from seed to harvest. It’s been about half that, and the heads are huge--easily 10 or 12 inches across and as high. I was worried the warm weather we’ve been having was going to cause the heads to bolt (start to flower) or turn bitter. Warm weather does that to crops like lettuce, so it’s a fine line between getting them sweet and ripe or big and bitter.

So I decided to jump the gun and cut a couple of heads and turn them into salad. I was shocked at how big and heavy they were when I cut them.

A few hours later one was a dinner salad (they were so big I decided to save the other one for the next day). The taste was exquisite. I used one big head of romaine with arrugula, parsley, shredded Parmesan cheese, dried cranberries, croutons, sugar plum tomatoes and tuna with a topping of Caesar salad dressing to create a wonderful meal. I felt quite smug to be eating fresh, organically grown lettuce from my own garden for dinner.

I know the weather is going to be against me, but I’m going to try another crop of lettuce to see if I can get in just under the wire before the weather turns toasty and forces me to grow other sorts of vegetables. Much of gardening involves taking risks with weather, soil, etc. If it works, great. If not, well, there's always next year.

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