The seasonal temperatures have moved panhandle Florida’s vegetable gardens from winter to the spring phase. Still, the unusually cool March has made it possible for a few winter holdouts to remain for early April 2023.
While many of winter’s leafy vegetables are responding to the longer days by bolting, sending up flower spikes, a few leafy vegetables are still producing. Now that the afternoons are reaching 80 degrees, they will not last long.
Two locally popular lettuce varieties are producing tasty, usable leaves. Both Red Oak Leaf Lettuce and Butter Crunch Lettuce are growing strong, and some others are coming on too.
Lettuces (Lactuca sativa) are annual plants in the aster family.
Homegrown lettuce is an easy option to stretch the home food budget. Even a flowerbed can be used as a cultivation site if enough sun is available.
This early season vegetable has a long and storied history which began in North Africa. Egyptians during the Fourth Dynasty about 4,600 years ago made the first recorded use of lettuce.
The plant was initially cultivated for its seeds which were used to produce oil. The oil was used as part of a religious celebration for one of their many deities.
Somewhere along the way, an adventurous and likely very cautious individual sampled the leaves and discovered the gastronomic potential of this native plant. Cultivation became formalized and the plant was incorporated into the Egyptian Old Kingdom’s diet.
The vegetable proved so popular it was included in tomb engravings to follow the pharaohs and other important people into the afterlife. Lettuce in Pharaoh Sneferu’s day looked much like romaine lettuce today.
The cultivation of lettuces was spread at first by the Greek Army of Alexander the Great, and then the Romans. Lettuces were selectively bred to meet individual needs and preferences as the increasingly popular vegetable was moved across succeeding empires.
This hardy and easily cultivated annual is thought to have come to North America with Columbus.
Lettuce can be a good source of vitamins and minerals with little fat and no sodium present. The darker green lettuces are the best source for vitamin A.
Iceberg lettuce, the most commonly seen cultivar in grocery stores, provided the least nutritional benefit of the commonly recognized lettuces. Still, it is a good source of dietary fiber and has excellent shipping qualities.
Lettuce is easy to grow in north Florida, but it must be planted during the cool season. Plant the seeds in rows about 1/8 inch deep in the soil. The seeds are very small and can easily be planted too deep.
Mixing the seed with clean sand makes it easier to uniformly distribute in the rows. Seedbeds should be kept moist, but not soggy.
Seed germination will occur within a week, but it may be delayed if the temperature plunges below 40 degrees. Depending on the variety, harvest can start in about 60 days. Thin the seedlings as necessary after about two weeks of growth.
Residential flowerbeds can serve as growing sites, just be sure there is enough sun exposure. It is a great way to stretch the food budget on a health option.
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