The days are just now getting long enough that I have time after I get home from work to dabble a bit in the garden before true darkness. I also have about half an hour in the morning.
I'm running a bit behind on direct-seeding in the garden, so I've been using this time this week to try and play catch up (Heidi the dog wishes I'd drop the mucking around outside and play Spitty Ball instead).
So today I managed to plant two full raised beds (the most tree-shaded ones) with a companion planting of various lettuces and carrots.
Every time I go out to plant lettuce I can't help but think about how all winter long I was weeding out self-seeded lettuce volunteers from the gravel in between my raised beds. As odd as it sounds, lettuce grows great in limestone gravel (even with thick/quality landscaping fabric underneath), even over a winter with no real protection from the elements. I have no idea why this is. Maybe some special concentration of certain nutrients? Residual warmth from the day's sun absorbtion? Excellent drainage?
I feel that I should be able to put such information to a very practical use, but I haven't figured out how to do so yet. A small frame filled with gravel? I also never got around to tasting the lettuce that grew... it may well have proven bitter.
Next up are spinach, radishes and beets. I can't find the packet of German Giant radish seeds I thought I had, and all the radish seeds I can find are more autumn varieties. May have to scramble and find a packet of red radishes somewhere locally.
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