Fall Spinach and Lettuce

 

I finally got the old Sugar Ann Pea vines pulled out.  

I was delaying that to ripen and collect some pea seed. It’s not the happiest looking seed but I’ll keep it as a backup for my remaining store-bought stock. 

The old pea bed is where the Fall Spinach and Lettuce go.  Once the Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers and Cantaloupe are finished in the greenhouse, the greenhouse will be rolled south one set of beds for next year’s rotation. But it will also cover this new Spinach and Lettuce as well as the two old Kale plants.  This covering will help extend the Lettuce and help overwinter the Spinach and Kale for an early Spring crop.  They will be done by the time the greenhouse needs to be filled with its summer crops.

The two are Encore Lettuce Mix from Johnny’s Seeds and Olympia Spinach from Pacific North West Seed.  I started them in pots on August 1^st. placed in the shade, out of the hot sun, until the first sprouts started to show.  I like the transplants a bit pot bound -- where the root ball just holds together -- for easier transplanting and less transplanting shock.  The lettuces were at that best stage but the spinach were a bit too pot bound.  That may be why their older leaves had yellowed -- possible water shortage on the too mature plants.  To remedy that next year I can either: 1) stagger seeding, 2) stagger transplanting, or 3) use slightly bigger pots for the spinach.

I sprinkled on 1 lb of Alfalfa Meal over the 18 square foot area and stirred / chopped it in with my Grub Hoe.  Then raked it flat and smooth.  Using my Row Marker set at 8 inch spacings I marked down and across the bed for 8 inch square centres.  I did have to dodge the single bean pole with my seed beans still ripening.

Before transplanting I sat the pots in standing water on cookie sheets to give them a good drink and to make sure all the root balls had no dry spots.  Transplanting was simple and I watered them in with a 2 gallon watering can of water mixed with fish fertilizer.  

(boy the shadows are getting long, it's only early afternoon)

The soil was a bit too dry with no watering for pea seed ripening so I water-wanded the bed as well.  I’m hoping those yellow spinach leaves won’t be too much of a deterrent for strong new growth before the frost comes in possibly 6 or 8 weeks – actually, hopefully later inside the greenhouse.

Happy Gardening.