One of the true ironies of vegetable gardening is that lettuce and tomatoes-perfect companions-rarely or never ripen in the spring at the same time.
Equally distressing at the opposite end of the vegetable season is that lettuce, which would mature gracefully during the cooling autumn days, has seed that is extremely reticent about germinating in August`s heat.
Well, the problem has been solved by researchers in Britain. Most of us need not be lettuce-less when tomatoes are plentiful in September and early October.
The germination rate was nearly 100 percent when lettuce seed was soaked in a solution of 90 percent cool tap water (about 50 degrees) and 10 percent household bleach for a couple of hours. Rinse seeds twice in distilled water after treatment, then sow as usual.
Evidently, bleach weakens the seed coat, enabling the expanding shoot to penetrate.
Planting seeds slightly deeper than normal, then covering them with vermiculite helps seedlings survive.
Called ”plug planting,” the technique requires digging holes or trenches for seed sowing, filling the holes with a soilless mix and compost mixture, then covering the newly sown seeds with vermiculite.
Plug planting also is appropriate when setting broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower transplants into the summer garden for a fall crop.
Water-absorbing gels and crystals are beneficial (though expensive) when worked into plug soil, but they have a detrimental effect on seed germination if added to seeds before sowing.
If you`re into cool-season vegetables in a serious way, shading sensitive crops may be worth the trouble. Greenhouse owners do it all the time to regulate the amount of sunshine and heat buildup in their houses.
On a smaller scale, a simple wooden V-frame or hoops made of 1/2-inch PVC pipe can serve as supports for shade cloth.
No need to buy the fancy kind used by greenhouses; cheesecloth or a floating row cover such as Reemay will work just as well and last for two years if treated gently. Stretch the material tightly over the frame and attach it securely to keep it from flapping in the wind.
Some vegetable gardeners are able to harvest lettuce all summer by employing a shade structure. Chances of doing this are increased by growing heat-tolerant varieties such as Oakleaf, deep green and strongly flavored, and Grenoblaise, pale green with frilly burgundy edges.
The wife of a master gardener who grows too much for two people has stopped canning excess tomatoes and freezes them instead.
She just washes the ripe fruit and packs them whole into plastic bags. When ready to use, she takes as many as needed from the freezer and slips off the skins by holding them for a few seconds under running water.
Thawing tomatoes quickly turn to mush; so she suggests chopping or dicing them while partially frozen.
”Use them as you would any canned tomato product,” she says. ”They taste even better than canned, and you don`t have to stand for hours over boiling water” on hot summer days.
