A New Fall Crop!

The cereals in the Climate Change Garden have been replaced by a fall crop: lettuce! The new fall crop has already started to grow, both inside and outside the High Tunnel. We are interested in seeing how the conditions in the high tunnel may affect the leaf emergence of the lettuce, as well as to see if the lettuce will bolt early. Bolting is when the plant produces a flower stalk and goes to seed. This can be costly for farmers growing lettuce because lettuce is grown for its leaves, but when lettuce bolts early, the leaves may become bitter and inedible. Meanwhile, the 'Pl 441 572' pepper plants have continued to outgrow their neighboring pepper plants inside the high tunnel. The Mountain Mint plants are still receiving many pollinating visitors, while the Swamp Milkweed plants have continued to produce seeds.