Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
Psalm 16:5-6

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Lettuce Get Planting!

Lettuce, Herbs, Green Onions, and Radishes- great fall crops
There are some nasty rumors going around about lettuce.  I hear that it is really hard to grow with lots of insect problems.  It has also been said that lettuce grown in Texas tastes bitter because of the heat.  Lies, all of them.

The misinformation comes from the fact that  the instructions on the back of seed packets and those great little farming magazines are written for folks living in the areas of the country that actually have four seasons and one growing season.  Now do not misunderstand me, I love my gardening magazines, but the time lines do not line up. Well, welcome to Texas Gardening.  There is a rhythm to gardening in Texas that is as unique as our Texas spirit.  Once you learn the rhythm you will be amazed at what you can grow.

However, for now we will focus on lettuce and its cousins.  It perturbs me to no end to have to purchase greens of any kind in the grocery store.  Homegrown greens are so easy and tasty!  Also, it is so much easier to have a bed of lettuce and just go pick you some whenever you want, than to have to go to the store when you want a salad.  If you are like me, lots of times what’s for dinner is not something planned very far in advance.  So, having items growing in the garden to have on hand is just the ticket.

One of the perks about lettuce and all the other greens, such as arugula, chard, spinach, etc. is that they can by eaten at all stages.  Baby greens make for a scrumptious salad or sandwich.  Many people, like my children, do not like mature spinach but love baby spinach.  So, while the plants are growing you can pick the outer leaves and enjoy the garden abundance for many weeks.  The greens( the term greens refers to all types of lettuce, herbs, kale, greens, spinach etc)  do not take a lot of space.  One 5X12  foot bed of greens will keep my family of 6 in fresh greens.

Now to dispel the lies.

First, that lettuce is hard to grow.  Not so, you just have to know when to plant it.  If you read many of the labels on lettuce sold in Texas, the labels  say to plant after all danger of frost has passed.  The problem with this is that if you wait that long in Texas you can have as little as 2 weeks until the temps are consistently in the mid- 80′s.  The proper planting times in Texas are February- April and September- December.  Lettuce is a cool season crop.  When most areas of the country are having dead of winter, we are having our cool season.   When we have had a mild winter, I harvest greens from September until June.  That is only 2 months of store-bought greens in a year.  That makes my heart happy!

The second lie is that lettuce has many insect problems. Now there are certain worms- Cabbage Loppers for example- that do like lettuce.  However, these are easily dispatched with Bt.  Bt- (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a naturally occurring bacterial disease that only attacks caterpillars.  Bt is organic and you can eat the produce with no worries that synthetic pesticides bring.  There are other insects that can be a problem at times, but I have found in my gardens that Bt is all I need to keep things in balance.  Also, there are other methods of insect control, but again the Bt is simple, easy and effective so that is what I use.  You can find it at most hardware and garden supply stores.

Lastly, lettuce grown in Texas tastes bitter- hogwash.  Again, you just need to know when to plant and what varieties to plant.  The types that are considered “slow to bolt” are the best for planting in the spring.  Bolting refers to sending up a conical shaft with blooms that will produce seeds.  Warm weather signifies to the lettuce that it is time to make seeds.  So, those lettuces that are slow to bolt will be the most tolerant of warm weather.  While you are looking in seed catalogs for heirloom selections (heirloom refers to varieties that will reproduce consistently if the seeds are saved) look for ones that were developed in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas- of course- or Israel.  These areas have climates similar to ours and those varieties will usually do well here for the summer planting.  Look for varieties labeled "Cool season" or "cold tolerant" on the lettuces, these will be the one for planting in the fall.  When it comes to the spinach, swiss chard, and kale- these are not even stopped by a freeze so they will grow all winter.

Some of my favorite varieties are:
For Fall Planting: Black Seeded Simpson, Drunken Woman, Tom Thumb, Oakleaf
For Spring Planting:  Oakleaf, Jericho- awesome, Tom Thumb
Spinach- Longstanding Bloomsdale is great year round.

Most of your annual herbs like dill, Salad Burnett, chives are best planted on the same schedule as lettuce.
I like to sow the seeds in wide beds.  I thin the seedlings and use them in salads as baby greens.  Keep the lettuce or greens watered one inch once per week and a little shade is very helpful for extending the growing season in the summer.  The seeds usually germinate and emerge in 7-10 days.

So there you have it- the truth about lettuce.  Now what are you waiting for?  September is coming to a close and October is upon us,  I can just taste the homegrown lettuce now.
Raised beds are great for gardening, this one in the front is filled with baby greens.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Lessons Learned.

Looks harmless, doesn't it?
Well, it has been awhile since I last posted.  There has been quite a lot going on.  I find it amazing how quickly the weeks can pass and things can change.

Just after my last blog post, I strained my back.  This sounds rather benign unless you have ever experienced a strained back.  I don't think I have physically hurt that bad since giving birth.  So, I spent many days in bed resting.  This sounds very nice except for the fact that it was the week of First Monday and we had just made plans to expand our retail location in Tyler and there was much work to be done.  However, God never wastes anything and I learned a lot of lessons through it all.

First of all,  I am hard headed and don't listen like I should.  This is really not a new concept, I have known this about myself for quite some time, but I never really suffered any harsh consequences for it.  If anything, because I will push myself and accomplish a lot in a short period of time, I have been rewarded by people giving me praise and more responsibility.  But, not listening to the Holy Spirit is sin.  The Holy Spirit is the third member of the God-head.  Being third on the list does not make him any less God.  His unctions are not just good suggestions, they are instructions from the throne of God.  So, just before I lifted and moved the antique door, that little voice said "Don't pick up that door".  My next thought was, "I will be careful, its not that heavy."  No, it was not that heavy but I disobeyed and this time there were consequences.  By the end of the day I could not hardly walk around.  You know the next crazy and stupid thing I did next?  The very next morning I woke up with no pain whatsoever.  I couldn't believe it.  Then the small voice said "lets do your quiet time." I thought no, I am going to take care of a few things and come back to it.  Within 20 minutes I was back in the bed.  See how hard-headed I am, I could have ended it right there by being obedient and I refused.  So, it has taken 4 weeks, three visits to the Chiropractor and I still have to be careful.

Please do not take from this that anytime you hurt or have something happen that God is behind it.  He gave me plenty of time to change on my own and plenty of warnings that I had to change.  The great thing is that regardless of the source of your hardship, God will use it for your good.

This leads me to the second lesson learned.  Tony has been telling me for ages to stop lifting the doors and to make the kids more involved with meal preparation and household duties.  I have resisted for many reasons, sometimes as a mom it is just easier to do it yourself.  Furthermore, I have taught them all to cook and felt that they were well equipped to manage their own households.  Hence my thought processes to basically blowing Tony off.  Well, God had plenty of time to talk with me those first 48 hours, I wasn't going anywhere.  He made it clear that He had been speaking though Tony and I wouldn't listen to either of them.

Once God got done with the correction of my ways, He began to speak to me about the new season we are entering.  There is going to be a lot going on and a lot of expansion.  It is imperative that I be quick to listen and obey for my sake and the sake of my family.  He loves me and He disciplines the ones He loves.  I am so thankful.  Time management is one of those things I love, I can work the time and always squeeze in more.
However, there is only so much energy available- not just in a day but in a week, month, year- so if I burn up all my resources doing things that He is either telling me to delegate or just leave alone (like heavy antique doors) I will not be able to finish the race He has set before me.

This week begins our new meal schedule.  I did the grocery shopping with a plan in mind that was based on what each kid can cook and likes to cook.  So, each one has a night that they do dinner.  Ironically, Jonathan the youngest has two nights because he can cook so many different things.  Seriously, last week he mixed up hamburger meat and spices and made hamburgers all by himself.  Those were some of the best burgers I have ever had.  He can grill pork chops, make spaghetti, steaks, fried potatoes with Eckridge sausage, steaks and pretty much anything else with a recipe.  He made cornbread for the stew and it was good.  I am sure he had a little help clarifying the directions.  Not too bad for an eleven year old.  The girls are not so crazy about cooking, they seem to like 3 meals a day and someone who does their laundry.  Oh well, things are changing anyway.  In the long run, they will be thankful.