The Manoa Dilemma

The garden has been trucking along, faster than I can keep up, both in the dirt and on the web. I want to document everything, but that seems beyond my capacity right now, so here’s a quick status check on the Manoa lettuce, which has been surprising. I have heads that are nearly five months old, which seems ancient. I’ve been babying them along, and should probably harvest and eat them, but after spending so much time on them so far, it’s hard for me to pull the trigger. I was a little worried they wouldn’t be any good, but I sampled a leaf, and it was excellent.

Babied Manoa 3, plus 2 and 4 in background - very loose head

Although I had four main lettuce heads that I was focusing on, I had a few others in another box that I eventually gave up on, since they were getting crowded out by fava beans. Much to my surprise, however, I found one of those neglected heads last week; I hadn’t set eyes upon it in a couple months, much less watered it, and there it was, seemingly doing just fine. Maybe this varietal is less fragile than I thought!

The other lesson from this varietal is that timing matters. I mean, that’s pretty obvious, but it hits home when you actually witness it. Since the current crop has demonstrated that last year’s saved seed is viable, I figured I better put it to use, and just dumped much of it into a small box a few weeks ago. The results have been highly encouraging — excellent germination and rapid growth, much faster than the first round, I assume due to temperature and maybe sunlight. The only issue was that I sampled a seedling leaf and it was bitter. I had just eaten a few peas off the vine, so I think that influenced the taste, and I’m also hoping that this stuff needs a little time to ease into more palatable flavor. I transplanted a few seedlings (and gave a pot to Mom), but I still have a crowded box that needs thinning. I’d like to just transplant everyone, but I’m running out of space. That’s the dilemma.

Another Box

Round 4