what can I plant in the lettuce bed

[simple life]

I have an open bed where I harvested my lettuce. Any suggestions for what I could put there now? I know you can't plant the same thing in the same spot so I wouldn't be able to do more lettuce correct? I am wondering if its too early to do some of the cool weather crops or not.

 

[Tutter]

I don't know your weather, but I wouldn't be able to grow decent lettuce right now. I keep my lettuce bed for plants planted every couple of weeks, until the end of the season, like beets, carrots, scallions, and radishes. But if you put radishes in it, it goes out of rotation for brassica (cabbage family) beds.

Generally, if I decide to put something more substantial/longer growing in an early cropping bed, I've done it by now.

As for same thing in the same bed; I plant like-kind plants for the whole season, then rotate the next year. For me it would be almost impossible to change rotations every couple of months. Besides which, my resting beds, which are 1 of every 4, need that long to relax and enjoy their cover crops.

Definitely find a use for the space if you can!

 

[patandchickens]

If it were me I'd probably just mulch the spot over for now, and use it for a fall lettuce crop. If Massachusetts is like W NY state or S Ontario, you are not *that* far off from seeding it as long as the garden is in a not excessively baking-hot location and you can give the lettuce bed some artificial shade (screens, pine boughs, whatnot).

I don't see any problem at all planting lettuce in the same place all year. Actually I'm not sure lettuce is one of the things it's greatly important to rotate at all -- I think a lot of people just pop it into odd corners wherever space fits that year and let the chips fall where they may. Anyhow I do and thus far nothing mortally awful has ever happened to it.

I am trying to give away lettuce heads right now -- sowed way too much, and it was Pinetree's assortment (which I highly recommend btw) so I hated to get rid of interesting varieties in it by excessive thinning, plus it has been a PERFECT year for growing lettuce up here. All of which adds up to: the chicken-sitter fed 12 older lettuces to the chickens while we were away, I am picking from 6 very large ones now, and have at least 2 dozen more in various stages from fist-sized to 3/4 grown. WHAT was I THINKING?

Pat

 

[simple life]

Thanks for all the advice. I think it was a great year for lettuce as well. No one can leave my house without a bag full of lettuce.
I am making a salad with dinner every night, can't complain about that, except I still have to buy the other salad ingredients because nothing else is ready to pick in my garden. I planted a mix, romaine,green tower and some others. I should try the ones you recommended for a change next time I do lettuce.