By jessijordan
Aerogarden 3 - Salad Greens
Submitted on Sun, 2009/03/08 - 6:58pm
Posted in
I planted Salad Green on December 8, 2008 & they sprouted really quickly.
I had started a blog here complete with pretty pics (but I stopped updating after January 1st)
http://www.jessijordan.com/aerogarden/
As of today the greens are ok. There are a bit bitter for my taste. Only one of the Bibb Lettuce vines are producing leaf. All the rest are red & green mixed greens.
Here is a pic of the salad greens today
On Friday I ordered romaine. That was what I really wanted to begin with but Bed Bath & Beyond didnt have any that day.
(1 vote)
Sun, 2009/03/08 - 7:24pm
#2
Yup! It was a mix of Bibb Lettuce & Red & Green Salad Greens. I loved the Bibb...the others not so much but I ate them happily!
Tue, 2009/03/10 - 10:11am
#3
Hi Jessi,
Welcome! Nice pictures! If your lettuce plants have a stalk, they will be bitter. They are "bolting" - ready to go to seed. Time for romaine.
Beth
Garden trivia: Bitter lettuce is caused when the bolting plants produce sesquiterpene lactones.
Tue, 2009/03/10 - 10:18am
#4
Agreed, Beth. But fwiw, when I've had over-crowded romaines, they've essentially turned into straggly vines from day one, until/if they wiggled to their own place in the light, then grew an elbow to sit on, and created a head from there. So, not bolting, but rather pre-thriving, sorta. That's why I'm quite liking this new scheme of thinning romaines down to 3 per pod. They don't behave well under heavy competition.
Tue, 2009/03/10 - 12:33pm
#5
Hi Gisette,
Isn't that more like extra-leggy seedlings? My lettuce always grew leggy and flopped over (pre-ag). My bolty lettuce starts to grow leaves alternately up a central stalk.
Beth
Tue, 2009/03/10 - 12:52pm
#6
Beth - right. But my romaine always did that extra-leggy bit, until I uncrowded it.
Tue, 2009/03/10 - 3:18pm
#7
Gisette,
Cool. I'll keep that in mind - 3 max per pod.
Beth
Tue, 2009/03/10 - 6:55pm
#8
Hi Beth
Thanks for the warm welcome!
I kept a black plastic garbage bag over the lettuce & tomato plants at night to block out the light. I guess it got too hot in there for the lettuce & it bolted. Perhaps I should move the herb garden next to the lettuce and move the tomato across the room to the green beans since both of those require the pitch black darknesss ( and the lettuce & herbs dont right?).
Are you & Gisette saying that I should remove a seed or two from my romaine lettuce pods when they get here?
If so can i plant them in soil 2! 
I know I'm an AG maniac now! But I have never grown anything in my life.
Tue, 2009/03/10 - 7:38pm
#9
Lettuce and herbs don't need dark at night so much. And lettuce can't stand heat. (But 3 months is a long haul for lettuce.)
Yeah, tomatoes and green beans sharing darkness is good. Dunno about pitch blackness.
Heh. Maybe just thin each of your romaine pods to the strongest 3 plants after they germinate. You can spring for another $1 pack of lettuce seeds on your trip to Target / Walmart - should contain ~500 seeds or so. 
It's nice to buy some seeds this time of year when they're in the stores. Most seeds are good for 4-5 years.
Tue, 2009/03/10 - 10:50pm
#10
Cool beans!
By the way I like the new pic!
Fri, 2009/03/13 - 6:50pm
#11
It has been over 3 months and today the mixed salad greens have been retired.
I couldn't bare to just toss them out yet so they are hanging out in a vase in the garden on the left 
Sun, 2009/03/22 - 11:30am
#12
I saved 1 leaf from my salad greens and put it in water just to see what would happen and it sprouted roosts and 2 new leaves!
Sun, 2009/03/22 - 2:56pm
#13
Wow! I had no idea they could do that! Good experimenting, Jessi! 
Sun, 2009/03/22 - 3:39pm
#14
I had no idea either! Good to know! Now when my AG lettuce is ready in 2 weeks I will clones some leaves for more and more and more lettuce 
I just got some more lettuce seeds (Burpee Bibb & Lettuce Vivian Romaine) from Home Depot and some Thai Basil! I'm really excited about that!
It's so cool having another AG mini grower glogging!
This is my latest romaine mini garden.
Three months is a good long run for a salad greens garden! Bibb lettuce came in that kit?