These Babies are Fun to Grow

Jodi Torpey, contributor

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This container of Garden Babies Butterhead Lettuce is as much fun to grow as it is to eat.

Photo: Jodi Torpey

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One of my growing experiments this season was planting a container of 'Garden Babies Butterhead' lettuce. I fell for this packet of seeds from Renee's Garden simply because of its name. I couldn't resist the idea of growing "Garden Babies" on the patio.

Garden Babies are a new butterhead lettuce offering released for the 2010 growing season. According to the packet information, these adorable heads of lettuce were first developed for a sophisticated luxury market because of their flavor and quality.

After growing one container of them, I have to agree they're as much fun to grow as they are to eat.

I planted the seeds in early spring right before the weather turned unseasonably cold. These babies also had to endure a snowstorm or two, some drenching rain and a curious squirrel who liked to dig up whatever I planted.

After the seeds had sprouted and started to turn into cute little rosettes, I followed Renee's advice and transplanted some to other containers to make sure there was room for six small heads in one container

Once the leaves grew to a good size, I couldn't help myself and started snipping them, one by one, and slipping them into sandwiches and adding them to salads. I'm delighted at their smooth texture and light, sweet taste.

One of the nice characteristics of this variety is these small heads are heat tolerant and slow to bolt, which came in handy once the spring weather turned from cool to hot, almost overnight.

It's been so much fun growing these little heads of lettuce, I plan to plant again in a few months so I can have a delicious fall harvest.

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Comments (4)

alexreed writes: One of the best
Posted: 2:46 am on July 26th

bobsmith21 writes: Thanks for sharing it
Posted: 12:23 am on July 13th

Addassamari writes: I wonder how well they would do in my south facing window sill this winter? Two winters ago I discovered that tomatoes would keep producing when I moved the pots indoors, but by then my lettuce had all gone to seed (but I had tomatoes all the way into February). They would make a wonderful addition to my winter herb garden and salad garden.
Posted: 7:45 pm on June 28th

ChrisMcLaughlin writes: Oh Jodi ~ How darling! I'm not going to even try to resist..these seeds are going on my list for the fall.
Posted: 12:41 am on June 20th

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