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  • From: <wiediger AT msn.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Watering Lettuce Beds
  • Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 07:40:10 -0500

We've answered below each question.

Paul and Alison Wiediger
Au Naturel Farm
http://aunaturelfarm.homestead.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "Russ and Rosie" <russandrosie AT attbi.com>

> Paul and Alison,
> I enjoyed your website. Nice photos.
Thanks!
> I like you watering setup. Think I'll give it a try.
> I was wondering if you would kindly answer a few questions.
> Here's what I do:
> I broadcast a lettuce mix over a prepared bed, then in 28 days I harvest
> and pull out the plants and reseed. I find that processing a second
> cutting takes way too much time. There are dead or cut leaves and the
> quality just doesn't seem as good.

We actually band rows because it makes it easier to weed, and easier to
cut - about 8 bands in a 36" bed.

> 1) I will be sowing the same type of seed for most of the year. Is crop
> rotation really an issue with lettuce? (This will be my first full year
> and the first time I am doing it this way, thus the ignorance. :))

We think it can be, although we do follow lettuce with lettuce sometimes.
In out tunnels, there is only so much room, and it's hard to do a good
rotation. As with any crop, you can get disease buildup.

> 2) I read somewhere that lettuce doesn't do well growing in the same bed
> that had previously grown Crusifers, beets, barley, rye, broccoli or
> mustard family. Have you had this problem? I did direct sow a bed with
> lettuce that had mustard grown in it and it didn't germinate.

Crucifers are a small part of our winter growing, and usually stand all
winter, so we haven't noticed any problem cropping lettuce behind them -
tomato, pepper or squash would be the most likely candidates to follow
crucifers in the tunnels. Rye residues can definitely cause germination
problems - making it an effective cover crop to follow with transplants, but
not seeds. It's called an allelopathic effect. Works a lot like Treflan,
but only for 3-4 weeks.

> 3) What you harvest in the winter months, do you have it all planted by
> the
> onset of winter or do you sow during winter as well?

We harvest lettuce, spinach, mesclun, carrots, beets, lots of oriental
greens, Chinese cabbage, Pac Choi, kales, mustards, etc. We do a first
planting in September for November sales, but continue to both seed and
transplant all winter for many items.

> Thanks!
> Rosie
> Tanglewood Farm - PNW
>




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