Composting more than eating.

[Bigmallly]

Is there anything you are not going to grow next year? So far I am composting more salad leaves, spinach & lettuce than we are eating so next year I think I'll give them a miss. I know I could grow less but in hindsight we don't eat a lot of salad stuff so would be easier to buy it. It is so easy to get carried away at the sowing stage. Do you throw a lot away?

[quark1]

You're lucky in a way - I've tried to grow lettuce of various kinds this year for my tortoise and I haven't had a look in - absolutley zilch has germinated from 2 attempts - which is quite wacky as I thought they were dead easy to do. I will persist whilst the weather is still with us.

You could either get a 'leaf' eating pet or continue as is for this year - terminating operations next and chosing something which lasts longer and can be frozen or preserved in some way.

[Bramble_killer]

I grew lots of chard and perpetual spinach last year. I grew a bit of perpetual spinach only this year.

Not tried to grow anything out of the ordinary yet so eat everything else

[Two_Sheds]

I'd run out of lettuce by May last year, so this year I have 4 rows. Of course, it all becomes ready at once, so the guinea pigs are getting a lot.

The chard has all bolted, so they'll be getting that soon too.

Apart from that: we eat everything I grow

[tamsin]

Are both your lettuce attempts from the same packet? Might be worth trying a new pack if so as it should be pretty easy. We have too much lettuce to eat and it's bolting quite quick. It makes good rabbit food though

[zazen999]

If you are getting too much at one go; either lift some and replant - this slows them down so that you get some a little later....or pot some up and give them away to neighbours and friends as a living salad [just like in Tescos....]....

i sow a small [half size] tray once a month and have enough to live off for most of the year.

[Bigmallly]

Appreciated & thanks for the tips.

[Welsh Wizard]

I have found the square foot system has imposed a little discipline in my salad sowing this year: by only sowing a square or two at a time, I am getting a good amount of salad for my families needs, without needing to compost swathes of bolted lettuce etc. Definitely a lesson learned, little and often sowing means the stand of crops looks pretty uneven, but there is always something at just the right stage for the bowl!

[Bigmallly]

I had 5 or 6 squares of the same as I had so many empty squares and there is only 3 of us............

[Welsh Wizard]

Next year I need a plan for those odd spare squares: My most prized crops are strawberries, cherry tomatoes and mangetout peas. Any spare squares on the north ie high/climbing side of the bed (unlikely as this is premium growing space) are going to be stuck with vine tomato plants or tall peas. The problem spaces for me to fill are the south side of the bed as the plants here need to be low growing. Strawberries seem to be the answer, once I have my salad needs covered. This year I filled odd squares with carrots or dwarf beans which is OK, but I would swap a bag of carrots for a strawberry any day. I am toying with solely growing strawbs along the south border of each 8x4 bed bed, leaving just the middle for the other lesser stuff like salads/roots/brassicas. The middle of the beds tend to be the squares that dont get tended so well, but who cares if the turnip/cabbage yield is inferior if the strawbs have been good....

[Welsh Wizard]

Just a note for anyone planning on square foot method, I found that so far this summer about 20 square foot of salad crops is providing me with plenty of varied salad for 2 adults and 2 kids. Your mileage may vary

[rustylady]

Is there anything you are not going to grow next year? So far I am composting more salad leaves, spinach & lettuce than we are eating

You need to get some guineapigs or rabbits, Bigmally. They eat the veg peelings and spare stuff and process it naturally into nice neat little pellets of fertiliser.

[Bren In Pots]

BM you could always try Lettuce soup

[tamsin]

You need to get some guineapigs or rabbits, Bigmally. They eat the veg peelings and spare stuff and process it naturally into nice neat little pellets of fertiliser.

I've just pulled four trugs full of nicely composted rabbit fertilizer out of the compost bin. I'm now wondering where in the garden (no allotment) I'm going to put it all. It'll grow giant lettuces and the rabbits will eat them and make even more compost,

[womble]

I've got too many lettuce as usual, but as the whole parishes sparrow population seems to be feeding off them atm, I don't mind.