I was never very successful with lettuce until I found your high intensity approach this past winter. I decided to give it a shot and now I have more lettuce than I know what to do with! And it’s only a 4’x2’ bed! Great videos Luke!
Just put in two new 4'x2' beds just for lettuce the first week of March. Direct seeded 20 in each bed and have about a 80 - 90% germination. in another week I'll split the ones that are growing and I'll have 20 heads of lettuce. After watching Luke's video, I may put in some starts from a nursery as a third row in each bed. I hope I do as well as you. 👍
You inspired me to have a goal of salad independence. This yr I sowed my seeds in plastic salad mix containers as a way to fight back lol. Your beds are beautiful. Your seed germination rate is amazing!!
I use your method now all the time, since I first saw it years ago. I have limited space for one, also only two of us to feed, I don't need a full bed of anything. I rejuvenate my soil and space a lot closer than the packets suggest. So far so amazing, thank you Luke oh and I give away a lot, my neighbors don't mind.
I'm applying this to all my grow bags! I've started growing lettuce for my pet rabbits this year. Between the 10 grow bags ranging from 5 to 10 gallons, and stuffing lettuce in every spare opening around the rest of my veg, hopefully with your tips, I'll be able to grow (nearly) all I need. Thanks for the great info!!
Thanks for the tip, Luke. This year I am really focusing on growing lots of beautiful lettuce leaves--they taste so very much better when picked from my backyard!
last year I had a buttercrunch lettuce plant go to seed in one of my beds and now it's completely FULL of lettuce. Started popping up in March. Overcrowded to the MAX but thriving. Will probably let it go to seed again and do the same.
High intensity lettuce works great for me! I even took a chance this year and put lettuce in between my rows of garlic. By the time they came up and filled in, the garlic was towering over them. The garlic gives the lettuce a bit of shade as the days getting hotter, and the lettuce acts like a living mulch. I'm going on the hunch that the garlic roots are well below the roots of the lettuce. Hopefully the garlic won't be smaller because of competition.
I have peas from several years ago that I’ve been stingy with previously. This year I went high-intensity after watching your videos, and it honestly makes so much more sense. I mean I put seeds about every 4-5 inches across a 4x4 bed, and then set up a store-bought string trellis for them. I have SO MANY healthy pea plants, and they started flowering last week. I’m hopeful we actually get a reasonable amount of pods this year!
I was in the hospital for 12 days (I ended up getting a foot amputation) so it's been hard to get out and get stuff going like I had planned. I have a friend coming to build me a step so I can get down in the area I have my garden beds in so I can get back to it. But this will help me. I have always wanted to do succession planting, I just never have. Time to start since most of my starts I put out in March died off. The Black Seeded Simpson (my lettuce variety champion) stayed growing in those cold temps. I was hoping to have the other leaf lettuce survive but it didn't while I was in the hospital.
I would be interested to know how that step works out for you. I have mobility issues the last couple of years and a scooter has helped immensely with getting stuff around the yard and checking livestock (chickens last year, will also have pigs again this year). We have about 6000ish square feet of garden and future permaculture orchard that I am truly thinking of making into something that would be accessible by those with disabilities.
I feel for you. I lost most of my foot 25 years ago. Gardening has been my physical therapy ever since. Got back to playing the drums too. Hang in there.
My lettuce dropped seeds in the summer and a whole new batch grew all thru the KY winter so we’ve been enjoying fresh lettuce for 2 months! It’s true about lettuce growing up because ours did & the bigger they got, the more their leaves touched each other which blocked out any weeds from growing.
Luke, I love your enthusiasm for gardening, you always inspire me. Your "high intensity gardening with succession" is pretty much what Mel Bartholomew created back in the 70s with his square foot gardening technique. Nothing beats the flavor of lettuce fresh from the garden!
Another option instead of succession is to start multiple varieties that mature at different rates. Start them all at the same time. When you harvest the earliest varieties, put new seeds right in. Put the new seeds in between existing rows and just keep repeating row after row. This can work for both cut and come again and using the heads, depending on how you prefer to harvest.
I like cut and come again. But the two week thing has always bugged me because of the unused space. What I'm trying this year is plant the full bed. Use cut and come again for some of the plants for things like sandwiches. For high volume lettuce, remove the plant. And have sets ready to go to fill in where you've left a void. So I'm kinda doing both.
I live in the mid South. I have yet to manage growing lettuce here. But I have come to accept that growing lettuce is a very backyard dependent project, since advice from other places rarely works in my weather area.
I just want to say that I went absolutely HAM buying your seeds this year, and so far I've had a near 100% germination rate. Absolutely incredible. I haven't planted the lettuce yet, but I intend to this weekend, and I will be following this method, since you haven't steered me wrong yet.
If you're doubting the high intensity method, just try it. I learned about it from this channel (thanks Luke!), gave it a shot, and it's now the only way I grow non-heading lettuce.
I have followed all of your advice on growing lettuce this year and I am very successful so far. I planted cold tolerant varieties at the end of March (Zone 5). 3 Succession plantings. I am about to start planting other varieties, for summer, this week, in 4 succession plantings. I will plant cold tolerant varieties again around the beginning of September. (some in ground, some in raised beds, and some in Greenstalk tower planters)
Great video! So, when I saw your first video on this I though nah, that's not gonna work for me but I''ll give it a try. Dude!!! lol Life changing!!!! I won't grow any other way now! I had lettuce allllll season long and into the Fall and Winter. (I did some cold frames) It was non stop! I was giving lettuce away!!! I planted up all kinds and it was so amazing! Thank you!!! :)
I am growing thelettuce mix again that I got from u last year! Love it! Growing good! Looking forward to fresh salads! Didnt go to seed very quick last year so had lettuce in to July! And it wasnt bitter!
Great idea about 1 variety for each row. I sowed heavily, but the growth rates & the bolting temperatures is making it hard for me to get a good salad. Some didn't mature & some bolted. Made me pick through & got very tedious. 😊
I would like you to explain how history was able to have back up food supply by planting flowers but vegs are food for the body but flowers are food for are soul.
I use the high intensity spacing for Lettuce and always end up with soooo much. I also use a shade cloth over my beds, that helps keep the Lettuce from bolting to quickly.
Why would I do succession planting if I do cut and come again? Won’t the lettuce plants last until it’s just too warm? I just keep picking the bigger leaves.
NE IN, 6a. Spinach was just starting to produce well over the last week or so. I harvest the outside leaves, let the inside of the crown continue growing. It's already going to seed. I have a few plants of another variety that are still going, hopefully that will last longer.
In California, we have already touched 80+, storm coming, 1/5 to 1 inch of rain in the 50's, but back up in the 80's in a couple days... I missed this one :-( But, Thank you for your videos :-)
Is it the same for kale? I want to do square foot planting but for kale the thing says there can only be one per sq foot. Is that right? I feel like I could easily get 4 per sq ft in there
I did that with my garlic! I planted a few red sails lettuce plants between the rows of garlic. Not densely though. The garlic was already up during the winter. By the time the lettuce got going, the garlic was nice and tall. Now the lettuce has fanned out and shades the spaces between the garlic, and the garlic keeps a bit of the hot sun off the lettuce. I think the garlic roots are much deeper than the lettuce. Hopefully the competition won't bother the garlic. I'll side dress everything with blood meal. By the time the garlic is done, the lettuce should be too. That's the plan, anyway.
Just placed my first order with you. Need a few things that I didn't already grow or have harvested seeds from. I see many you-tubers order from you with nothing but praise on germination rate.
I have tortoise from 175 lb to 210 lbs and believe me they can eat a lot of lettuce I can't afford to buy it at $2.00 a head it would cost me $24 a day so I grow leaf lettuce as much as possible.
I'd appreciate if you made videos like this relevant to the timeframe, instead of halfway through the video saying it's midseason and they should've been started 6 weeks ago.
Tried to direct sow lettuce, so far after 2 weeks nothing. I can never germinate lettuce seed. And trowing starter plants seems god paintful for space. The only direct seeding that has worked so far is radishes and carrots. The rest nothing, no swizz chard, beets or my cilentro. All last year bough new seeds. Hopefully my watermelons seed sprout on my cups.. its 40% of my garden
In the part of Canada we live in, our growing season isn't exactly long lol. I grow lettuce from early spring right through to late fall. I've only had one head bolt to seed. I plant taller plants around them to help provide shade during the hotter weeks. 🥬🙂
I was never very successful with lettuce until I found your high intensity approach this past winter. I decided to give it a shot and now I have more lettuce than I know what to do with! And it’s only a 4’x2’ bed! Great videos Luke!
Just put in two new 4'x2' beds just for lettuce the first week of March. Direct seeded 20 in each bed and have about a 80 - 90% germination. in another week I'll split the ones that are growing and I'll have 20 heads of lettuce. After watching Luke's video, I may put in some starts from a nursery as a third row in each bed. I hope I do as well as you. 👍
Good upload Luke. The reminder to succession sow is very helpful. A quick note on the end of the video, I didn’t see the recommended video pop up.
The free lettuce seeds you sent me with my seed orders are the best I’ve ever grown. Will buy some more of them for fall growing.
Nice. I ordered twice and didn't receive any free seeds from him.
You inspired me to have a goal of salad independence. This yr I sowed my seeds in plastic salad mix containers as a way to fight back lol. Your beds are beautiful. Your seed germination rate is amazing!!
Salad independence! I love that.
@@DDGLJ Me too. Evokes so much in just two words.
‘Salad Independence’. I’m stealing that. Hope it becomes a movement :)
Good reminder to succession plant!
I use your method now all the time, since I first saw it years ago. I have limited space for one, also only two of us to feed, I don't need a full bed of anything. I rejuvenate my soil and space a lot closer than the packets suggest. So far so amazing, thank you Luke oh and I give away a lot, my neighbors don't mind.
I'm applying this to all my grow bags! I've started growing lettuce for my pet rabbits this year. Between the 10 grow bags ranging from 5 to 10 gallons, and stuffing lettuce in every spare opening around the rest of my veg, hopefully with your tips, I'll be able to grow (nearly) all I need. Thanks for the great info!!
Thanks for the tip, Luke. This year I am really focusing on growing lots of beautiful lettuce leaves--they taste so very much better when picked from my backyard!
last year I had a buttercrunch lettuce plant go to seed in one of my beds and now it's completely FULL of lettuce. Started popping up in March. Overcrowded to the MAX but thriving. Will probably let it go to seed again and do the same.
High intensity lettuce works great for me! I even took a chance this year and put lettuce in between my rows of garlic. By the time they came up and filled in, the garlic was towering over them. The garlic gives the lettuce a bit of shade as the days getting hotter, and the lettuce acts like a living mulch. I'm going on the hunch that the garlic roots are well below the roots of the lettuce. Hopefully the garlic won't be smaller because of competition.
Best garden advice ever from your channel
I have peas from several years ago that I’ve been stingy with previously. This year I went high-intensity after watching your videos, and it honestly makes so much more sense. I mean I put seeds about every 4-5 inches across a 4x4 bed, and then set up a store-bought string trellis for them. I have SO MANY healthy pea plants, and they started flowering last week. I’m hopeful we actually get a reasonable amount of pods this year!
I was in the hospital for 12 days (I ended up getting a foot amputation) so it's been hard to get out and get stuff going like I had planned. I have a friend coming to build me a step so I can get down in the area I have my garden beds in so I can get back to it. But this will help me. I have always wanted to do succession planting, I just never have. Time to start since most of my starts I put out in March died off. The Black Seeded Simpson (my lettuce variety champion) stayed growing in those cold temps. I was hoping to have the other leaf lettuce survive but it didn't while I was in the hospital.
I would be interested to know how that step works out for you. I have mobility issues the last couple of years and a scooter has helped immensely with getting stuff around the yard and checking livestock (chickens last year, will also have pigs again this year). We have about 6000ish square feet of garden and future permaculture orchard that I am truly thinking of making into something that would be accessible by those with disabilities.
Sorry to hear about your foot. Not easy. God bless you.
I feel for you. I lost most of my foot 25 years ago. Gardening has been my physical therapy ever since. Got back to playing the drums too. Hang in there.
I'm glad you are still pushing forward with your garden. I hope you heal fast❤
@@jenniferrescott1149 thank you. It's slower than I want but going forward it is.
My lettuce dropped seeds in the summer and a whole new batch grew all thru the KY winter so we’ve been enjoying fresh lettuce for 2 months!
It’s true about lettuce growing up because ours did & the bigger they got, the more their leaves touched each other which blocked out any weeds from growing.
Luke, I love your enthusiasm for gardening, you always inspire me. Your "high intensity gardening with succession" is pretty much what Mel Bartholomew created back in the 70s with his square foot gardening technique. Nothing beats the flavor of lettuce fresh from the garden!
Another option instead of succession is to start multiple varieties that mature at different rates. Start them all at the same time. When you harvest the earliest varieties, put new seeds right in. Put the new seeds in between existing rows and just keep repeating row after row. This can work for both cut and come again and using the heads, depending on how you prefer to harvest.
This is also how I like to grow whacky lettuce. Sea of green ❤
I like cut and come again. But the two week thing has always bugged me because of the unused space.
What I'm trying this year is plant the full bed. Use cut and come again for some of the plants for things like sandwiches. For high volume lettuce, remove the plant. And have sets ready to go to fill in where you've left a void. So I'm kinda doing both.
You give me hope with lettuce! Thank you
Cool! I love it when gardeners break the rules
Yes! This is what I do! I broadcast the seed and grow in a patch. I can thin a little but I cut fresh as I need. And it regrows!
I live in the mid South. I have yet to manage growing lettuce here. But I have come to accept that growing lettuce is a very backyard dependent project, since advice from other places rarely works in my weather area.
Have you tried putting it in full shade areas, or at least a spot that doesn't get the sun in the hottest part of the day?
Sow it in November.
I just want to say that I went absolutely HAM buying your seeds this year, and so far I've had a near 100% germination rate. Absolutely incredible. I haven't planted the lettuce yet, but I intend to this weekend, and I will be following this method, since you haven't steered me wrong yet.
If you're doubting the high intensity method, just try it. I learned about it from this channel (thanks Luke!), gave it a shot, and it's now the only way I grow non-heading lettuce.
I have followed all of your advice on growing lettuce this year and I am very successful so far. I planted cold tolerant varieties at the end of March (Zone 5). 3 Succession plantings. I am about to start planting other varieties, for summer, this week, in 4 succession plantings. I will plant cold tolerant varieties again around the beginning of September. (some in ground, some in raised beds, and some in Greenstalk tower planters)
Ao cool your coming to my area, at dow gardens, wish I could make it that day!!! Hope you do more events there in the future.
I just got my first bag of trifecta today and put in some tomatoes and peppers using it. 😊
Yay!!!!! I refuse to start seeds or plant in anything without Trifecta anymore!!!!!❤❤❤❤❤
Great video! So, when I saw your first video on this I though nah, that's not gonna work for me but I''ll give it a try. Dude!!! lol Life changing!!!! I won't grow any other way now! I had lettuce allllll season long and into the Fall and Winter. (I did some cold frames) It was non stop! I was giving lettuce away!!! I planted up all kinds and it was so amazing! Thank you!!! :)
I am growing thelettuce mix again that I got from u last year! Love it! Growing good! Looking forward to fresh salads! Didnt go to seed very quick last year so had lettuce in to July! And it wasnt bitter!
I'm going to try this. Seems like a good idea!💡😎👍
I always get bitter lettuce, even when it doesn't bolt. Should I grow in shade so it doesn't get as hot. Also thinking of growong aeroponic or kratky
Hi Luke! Awesome info as USUAL😊😊😊
Thank you for explaining exactly how to succession plant in detail.
brilliant advice !!! I have many still in 128-cell Winstrip Tray and I did space them too much so I will be doing what you said today :)
Oh my, you are right on the st clair river... My aunt and uncle are in Algonac
We sure are!
this is really helpful
starting some lettuce seeds now!
Brilliant episode!
Thank you for the tips. Fresh lettuce is the best and saves a lot of money if you use it a lot.
Great idea about 1 variety for each row. I sowed heavily, but the growth rates & the bolting temperatures is making it hard for me to get a good salad. Some didn't mature & some bolted. Made me pick through & got very tedious. 😊
Awesome info Luke! I do this in my Greenstalks!❤
I would like you to explain how history was able to have back up food supply by planting flowers but vegs are food for the body but flowers are food for are soul.
The river looks awesome can't wait to get out there.
Love your videos!! I ordered trifecta and can't wait to use it! It's still kinda cold here in Mass
Where did you get that nozzle for your hose? Mine never spray that finely.
I’ve already harvest your salad bowl mix twice!! Direct sown. Was wondering what the correct way to harvest it is? I’ve hand picked leaves
I think you're right on about lettuce issues...
I use the high intensity spacing for Lettuce and always end up with soooo much. I also use a shade cloth over my beds, that helps keep the Lettuce from bolting to quickly.
How far down do I cut for the “cut and come again method”?
Thank you for the tips on lettuce !!
Thanks Luke! Another great informative video!
I like how you replaced your old beds with the new beds😃
opps thought you was a the old house😆
This was a great video!😊
lol, the first variety/row I planted was your slobolt lettuce. It’s ok, I’ll keep on top of harvesting to keep it going
Why would I do succession planting if I do cut and come again? Won’t the lettuce plants last until it’s just too warm? I just keep picking the bigger leaves.
Great info! Thank you! ❤
I did this spacing this year and I have way more lettuce than I can eat 😁
Thank you Luke! ❤
can I grow indoors under grow lights because I live in a zone 9a desert and we are already hitting high 80 days for a week at a time.
My lettuce had a lot of bugs! When I tried to clean the bugs off, I am assuming aphids. Couldnt wash them enough to get the bugs off
Is it too late to start from seed? I live in northern Michigan (Traverse City). Thanks!
Super informative, thanks for all those lettuce growing tips. Should we use any mulch when planting lettuce this way?
NE IN, 6a. Spinach was just starting to produce well over the last week or so. I harvest the outside leaves, let the inside of the crown continue growing. It's already going to seed. I have a few plants of another variety that are still going, hopefully that will last longer.
North Carolina here. Lettuce and spinach already bolting. Very disappointing. Still looking for some good hot weather salad greens.
Do you think high intensity growing would work in a food forest?
I fertilize mine with home made stinging nettle and comfy tea. High in nitrogen!
Don’t forget liquid gold.
How much Trifecta do you add to a bed that size?
In California, we have already touched 80+, storm coming, 1/5 to 1 inch of rain in the 50's, but back up in the 80's in a couple days... I missed this one :-( But, Thank you for your videos :-)
What ever happened to the container apples?
Where's that Grape Arbor video?
coming soon!
Is it the same for kale? I want to do square foot planting but for kale the thing says there can only be one per sq foot. Is that right? I feel like I could easily get 4 per sq ft in there
The dinosaur kale I grow gets huge. It’s not really necessary. Unless you really like a lot of kale.
🎧🤪👨🌾🫶 Thank you so much for sharing 🙏 I wishing you a beautiful day to you and all your viewers. Much Love Thierry ❤️˘◡˘❤️
Is that perlite organic?
❤️
What time of the day should I pick lettuce? Thanks jim80
Lunch time is my personal favorite.
I wonder during hot heat if I could do this as a living mulch.
I did that with my garlic! I planted a few red sails lettuce plants between the rows of garlic. Not densely though. The garlic was already up during the winter. By the time the lettuce got going, the garlic was nice and tall. Now the lettuce has fanned out and shades the spaces between the garlic, and the garlic keeps a bit of the hot sun off the lettuce. I think the garlic roots are much deeper than the lettuce. Hopefully the competition won't bother the garlic. I'll side dress everything with blood meal. By the time the garlic is done, the lettuce should be too. That's the plan, anyway.
How many times should we cut and come again?
As much as you can eat.
❤❤
Sweet because sometimes the lettuce does good. Sometimes it dies off after transplanting. I'm all ears.
Just placed my first order with you. Need a few things that I didn't already grow or have harvested seeds from. I see many you-tubers order from you with nothing but praise on germination rate.
You can’t beat the prices too.
@@kevinbossick8374 I found the prices awesome!
No Chemicals🧪! Only Grow Organic Raised Vegetable Beds! always Tommy🤠
I have tortoise from 175 lb to 210 lbs and believe me they can eat a lot of lettuce I can't afford to buy it at $2.00 a head it would cost me $24 a day so I grow leaf lettuce as much as possible.
I'd appreciate if you made videos like this relevant to the timeframe, instead of halfway through the video saying it's midseason and they should've been started 6 weeks ago.
Fyi That isnt always the case for everyone. I am just barely able to plant cold weather crops so for me the time frame is relevant.
Google Farmers Almanac zone chart. You put in your zip code. Tells you when to plant or sow seeds. Then use the videos to learn. It’s helped me a lot.
Tried to direct sow lettuce, so far after 2 weeks nothing. I can never germinate lettuce seed. And trowing starter plants seems god paintful for space. The only direct seeding that has worked so far is radishes and carrots. The rest nothing, no swizz chard, beets or my cilentro. All last year bough new seeds. Hopefully my watermelons seed sprout on my cups.. its 40% of my garden
No audio coming through and you're teeny tiny one by half inch frame doesn't help. Check you later to see if same.
I have no issue with audio
Audio is fine. So is video
Think the problem is on your end 🤷♀️ all good on my end as well
Luke, our lettuve never looks like this. Keep trying ai guess.
How much do lettuce starts cost 😂
Why are you calling this high intensity when it appears to be high density planting.
In the part of Canada we live in, our growing season isn't exactly long lol. I grow lettuce from early spring right through to late fall. I've only had one head bolt to seed. I plant taller plants around them to help provide shade during the hotter weeks. 🥬🙂