In the Yard: Easy as Hell Lettuce and Strawberries
One rule of thumb here in California is “If you’re always planting, you’re always harvesting.” Whether its a fully grown head of lettuce in the ground, or a six pack of tomatoes in my window sill, you can have a continuous cycle of vegetable life all the time. It is easy and fun, but why should you listen to me? Well, let me tell you my story, and you can decide.
I grew up here in California and both parents were avid gardeners. I like to joke with my clients and say I have two green thumbs, one from each side of the family. As soon as I was old enough to walk, I was out pulling weeds and shoveling compost. In the summer I worked on my uncle’s farm, where we transferred thirty acres of rhubarb into a variety of crops for the local farmers market.
It was here that I first learned vegetable growing, and more importantly, growing vegetables from seed. Growing vegetables from seed is the most cost effective way to create an abundance of produce, and easy, too, once you know how to do it.
I began farming here at my home in 2002. I had just retired from professional baseball with the San Diego Padres after a back injury ended my career. I went “in-law” hunting with one thing in mind, a backyard with a landlord who didn’t mind me renovating it.
I now own my own gardening and landscaping company, and have tried every type of vegetable and vegetable growing technique on the market. I experimented, I succeeded, I failed, I learned, and now teach my methods.
Many homeowners have limited space to work with, and in order to maximize our harvests we have to learn to work with very little space. Several years ago I stumbled across a book entitled Square foot gardening, by Mel Bartholomew. In it he discusses how to grow a wide variety of vegetables with very little effort, in a small space, from seed. This is the method I teach, and with very little investment, any amateur gardener can learn to grow a wide variety of organic vegetables in any space.
Let’s get started with something that’s so easy that even Eve is doing it, lettuce or strawberries in a pot.
Lettuce in a pot
Get one small ten gallon black plastic pot available at the nursery for around 8 bucks; one bag of organic potting mixture available for 9 bucks; and one package of lettuce seeds, whichever variety you want, available for around 2 dollars (in each package of seed are anywhere between 200 and 600 individual seeds. When stored in a sealed bag in the fridge, these seeds can last up to five years).
For around 20 dollars you can have organic lettuce continuously for several years. All you do is dump the soil in the bucket, make 6 half inch deep holes (equally spaced) and place 6 lettuce seeds in each hole. Cover the holes and keep moist until the seeds sprout. Water twice a week until the lettuce looks like lettuce you’d see in the store, then harvest.
Strawberries in a pot
Get one 15 gallon black plastic pot, which will cost about at $10. Buy one bag organic potting soil, and one (just one!) strawberry plant.
Fill the pot with soil, leaving a one inch lip between soil and top of pot. Plant the strawberry plant in there.
Water it once a week soaking the entire pot. As strawberries begin to form, make sure they aren’t touching the soil or they’ll rot on the vine — just pull them up on their own leaves if that happens. And when the berries are ripe, pick them! For around $25 you’ve just set yourself up for lifetime of organic strawberries that will grow just about year round.
Follow up:
Do the lettuce leaves and strawberries keep growing in after you harvest them, or do you have to plant new seeds every now and then? And does the soil ever get nutrient-depleted and need changing?
Strawberries are technically a perennial plant and will grow in the same pot for years with steady fertilizing and pruning. For fertilizer I recommend the same product I use for my lemon tree — any granular “citrus and avocado ” fertilizer will have exactly what your strawberry needs year round. Follow the instructions on the box, but I always recommend fertilizing at half to three quarters of what they tell you to to avoid over-fertilizing.
Pruning your strawberries is just as important! My uncle always said “pick them early and pick them often. ” This applies to the leaves as well as the berries, which I admit are very easy to pick. Break any dead or yellowing leaves as soon as you see them and any spent strawberry stems. Your plant should remain clean and neat as it grows. A healthy strawberry plant has lots of big green leaves and big green, soon to be red, berries.
Most lettuce can be continually harvested from the outside leaves in for up to six months. Take the large outside leaves in for a small salad. If you want a big salad every night, well, plant more lettuce!
Don’t put your pot in the full summer sun either as it can easily wilt. Look for a place that gets morning sun and afternoon shade for best results in the summer. When you don’t have any lettuce left growing in your pot I recommend planting a different crop or two to begin a rotation.
Try peas and beans, then carrots or beets before planting lettuce again, and always mix in compost to your existing soil before planting a new crop.