A Shady Lettuce Experiment

I like to watch a lot of PBS shows on gardening – such as Victory Garden, P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home, Cultivating Life, and Illinois Gardener.  The other night I was watching an episode where right in front of San Francisco’s Convention Center, they made a huge garden right in the parking lot.  It was pretty neat to see – and the garden areas were circular with burlap bags filled with straw around the perimeter to hold the soil in.

Well, this post doesn’t have much to do with that, but I was feeling antsy after seeing these that I just wanted to plant something!

So, I got out in the garage and looked around for some kind of container that was at leas six inches deep.  I found a green rubbermaid container that fit the bill.  I then filled it with soil from the garden and brought it into the house.

I am going to see if lettuce will grow well in a shady area.  We do not get any direct sunlight in our house because the garage is on the south side of the house – plus the forrest behind the house keeps it shaded.  Right now there is maybe 30 minutes to an hour of direct sunlight that comes in our bedroom window since the leaves of the trees in the forrest are gone and the sun is a little lower in the sky.

So, I set this container in our room by the windows and put about 17 lettuce seeds in it.  While I can’t keep all of them in there, I hope to at least keep six in this container.  The container is probably about 10 inches wide by 15 inches long – so that is pushing it with planting the lettuce that close.

But darn it!  I just can’t wait through all of this cold winter without doing something.  So, why not try to see if lettuce grows in a shady spot!  If this actually works out very well, I have a whole row behind the garage that I could use strictly for lettuce plantings and use the space in the main full-sun gardens for something else.

I haven’t known any veggies to grow well in full shade – but I read something online about folks growing lettuce in full shade and it working out.  So, why not – I have nothing to lose except 17 lettuce seeds and a little bit of time watering them.

December 25

Update for today –  Approximately seven of the 17 lettuce seedlings have finally sprouted.  It took nine days to get to this point.  The lettuce sure didn’t sprout very well – but I blame that on the fact they were planted 1/2-inch or more under soil.  For lettuce, they should only be planted about 1/4-inch deep.

The lettuce is extremely “leggy” and is trying to reach for sunlight – which just isn’t readily available in this room.  I think it is pretty safe to say that growing lettuce in shade is a complete bust – at least for the idea that once they emerge from seedlings, they are putting all of their energy in making the main stem.  Compare this to the Experiment 2 – Growing Lettuce Under Lights .

December 31

Nothing much has changed for these little seedlings.  They are still very long and stalky but the leaves have finally begun to try and open up.  The below picture doesn’t do much good because it was pretty dark in the room already when taken.