The Rhythm of Lettuces and Jobs for the Week - mid April

This week brings an end to the early spring sowing frenzy with only courgettes, leaf beet and chard plus a range of haricot beans on the list, but that doesn't mean it is going to be an easy week by any stretch. Once I've added to the sowing list all the seeds that get sown over and over again throughout the growing season - lettuces, beetroot, coriander, turnips, radishes - and then all the previously sown seeds that will need pricking out or potting on - cabbages, kohlrabi, lettuces and a range of flowers it is going to be a busy week.

Add into the mix the need to cut the grass and do the weeding for a number of clients and I'm just not sure whether we'll be able to take advantage of the last week of the ski season up at Piau Engaly. They had an enticing 30cm of fresh snow last weekend, so it is a real temptation in what has been a dreadful snow season. Summer drought down here means poor plant growth and endless watering, but in the mountains poor winter snow levels are bad both for the vital winter sports industry, and for filling the rivers and reservoirs as the snow melts, compounding any summer drought.

I mentioned sowing and pricking out lettuces and want to explain why I don't just direct sow once the ground has warmed up, especially as I reckon to sow lettuces about every fourteen days or so. The reasons are simple. Although now very much more under control, I do have a large number of slugs in my vegetable garden. Night patrols to collect and dispose of these pests would often yield over 500 in one evening, each evening from late March until June. Now that we have a better slug/predator balance in the garden - slow worms, glow worms, toads, newts, hedgehogs and many predatory beetles now share the space with us - I am happier to let nature deal with the problem. 

However, expecting tasty lettuce seedlings to survive is just foolish!

Lettuce falls into a nice three stage rhythm. Firstly in mid-February I sow into a seed tray, usually three varieties in three rows. 

These should germinate and be ready to prick out once they have formed the first set of true leaves after ten days to a fortnight. I prick these out, normally three to five plants to a pot which frees up the tray (cleaned and filled with fresh compost) for the next sowing. 

About a fortnight later the potted on plants should be ready to be planted out into the ground; the entire potful going out into one pot. The seed tray plants should be ready for potting on at the same time and I fall neatly into the pattern of planting out, potting on and sowing new seeds once every two weeks or so up until about mid September when the last batch of winter hardy lettuces are sown, ready for planting out in early October. These will go into a space which can be easily covered by a small tunnel, in which I will also keep a supply of radish, turnips, beetroot and coriander going. Well, that's the plan!

The lettuces for this year are - 
Red Salad Bowl
Freckles
Little Gem
Rocket (not really a lettuce, I know!)
Arctic King
Rouge d'Hiver

If I come across some other interesting seeds I may supplement this list. I am a sucker for seed buying.