Gardening in Texas has its challenges, but I think vegetable gardening throughout the winter makes up for the other difficulties we face (remind me I said that when I get tired of mowing in the August heat). A fresh salad of homegrown lettuce, spinach, and other greens is a delight in the middle of January or February!
This winter, we have tested more varieties of lettuce and added spinach to the vegetable variety trials at the Master Gardener demonstration garden. The lettuce and spinach were planted on November 19, 2019. Lettuce varieties include Red Sails Leaf; Ruby Red Leaf; Green Salad Bowl Leaf; Butterhead Bibb; Parris Island Cos Romaine; Jericho Romaine; Great Lakes Mesa 659 Iceberg. We have harvested lettuce three times by cutting young loose leaves, rather than letting the lettuce form heads. So far, the Romaine and Iceberg lettuces have been the top producing lettuces by weight.
Spinach varieties include Bloomsdale Abundant; Bloomsdale Long Standing; Noble Giant; Space; and Corvair. The spinach as also been harvested three times by cutting it and letting it continue to grow. This is a great way to grow and harvest spinach or lettuce at home so you can have fresh greens for many weeks. The first harvest in our garden was January 10, and we expect at least two or three more weeks of harvest. The top two producers by weight are Bloomsdale Long Standing and Noble Giant.
Spinach and lettuce are great winter crops because they can handle cool temperatures. We have used a low-tunnel system of hoops and plastic row cover to protect the plants from freezes. Freeze cloth or a sheet works very well in a home garden.
For the variety trial, we are following the planting and fertility guidelines from the AgriLife publication “Easy Gardening: Spinach & Other Greens” that can be found on the Aggie Horticulture website (https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/). It’s not too late to plant spinach or lettuce if you can get it planted by the first week of March, but I don’t recommend planting any later. Our warm Texas springs will cause the lettuce and spinach to “bolt” and be very bitter. If you didn’t get a crop in this winter, you can plant in September for a fall crop.
Be sure to stop by the Demonstration Garden on 3151 SE Inner Loop in Georgetown to check out the variety trials. The Master Gardener Volunteers are in the garden on Tuesday and Friday mornings if you have questions or want to learn more about vegetable gardening. For more information about gardening, contact the Williamson County AgriLife Extension Office at 512-943-3300.
