Last year, in the spring, summer and fall, I scattered lettuce (Simpson Elite) over a 3x7' foot area. Next to none germinated or survived more than a day or two. So I let the ground go. A couple of days ago, while walking around the yard, I noticed a couple dozen heads were growing, among the dead weeds. Today, I tried to remove all the dead foliage and its roots, sort of till the ground using a small hand cultivator and transplant nine heads of Romaine lettuce. Just for craps and giggles, I covered all the ground that didn't have a plant growing on it, as well as the area around each plant, with shredded newsprint, then sprinkled grass trimmings over - watering the entire area just enough to make it moist. Then covered it with a piece of Agribon row cover.
We love lettuce, both for sandwiches and salads, but I also want to see how the 'mulch' works. Except for the time it takes to run it through a shredder, it's free. The game plan is to keep adding the newspaper shredding and grass clippings. At the worst, besides having some greens to eat this year, next year I should have a nice, but not deep compost pile!
Mike
We love lettuce, both for sandwiches and salads, but I also want to see how the 'mulch' works. Except for the time it takes to run it through a shredder, it's free. The game plan is to keep adding the newspaper shredding and grass clippings. At the worst, besides having some greens to eat this year, next year I should have a nice, but not deep compost pile!
Mike