PUHI — Lettuce is one of the popular vegetables home gardeners think about when planning their home gardens. But how do you enjoy the crisp leafy vegetable when the thermometers creep higher as the calendar enters summer? The College of
PUHI — Lettuce is one of the popular vegetables home gardeners think about when planning their home gardens.
But how do you enjoy the crisp leafy vegetable when the thermometers creep higher as the calendar enters summer?
The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawai‘i says that lettuce grows best during cool weather with head types being particularly sensitive to warm weather.
But there are types of lettuce that grow satisfactorily at lower, warmer elevations in Hawai‘i, but even for those varieties, growth is generally better during cooler seasons, according to a “Lettuce for the Home Garden” publication.
George Ball of the Kaua‘i Community College community gardens program had several “heat tolerant” varieties as well as other vegetable starts available when the Kaua‘i Community Market opened, Saturday, at the KCC campus.
Red oak, a red variety, was being used by the KCC Culinary Summer Institute students for their demonstration in the preparation of Egg Frittata with SOS Salad and a Ciabatta Crisp dish.
That is one of the heat- tolerant lettuce varieties, Ball said.
Others include red navarro, another red leaf variety, and for those seeking the green leaf, there is santoro.
Ball said in addition to lettuce, they are working on producing several of the mustards and also have other leafy starts including kale and endive.
Ball said the community garden tent at the weekly Kaua‘i Community Market which enjoys summer hours from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays has an assortment of timely vegetables and herbs that can be planted now.
For those who are not able to visit the market, Ball is at the KCC community garden site Wednesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m. until about 6 p.m.
