Red and Green Salad Bowl Lettuce

[Sher]

My first garden in my new home is a modest one.

Red salad bowl lettuce in the front and two green in the rear, squeezed into my small kitchen.

I plan to use them a leaf or two at a time in sandwiches, so am giving them room to spread.

It is also my first garden using chlorinated city water -- also very hard water -- so I'm not sure what to expect.

[campingcorgis]

Fingers & paws crossed for you!  

[Sher]

Thank you, campingcorgis!

[Shawn]

Nice to see you starting your AG's again.

[Sher]

Feb 3, 2022 9:22:24 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Nice to see you starting your AG's again.

It feels good!

[lynnee]

My gardens do fine with city water, Sher. It's not particularly hard water, though. Fresh lettuce for sandwiches is one of the very best things to grow in an AG! 🥬

[Sher]

Thanks, lynnee. Shawn told me her gardens grow fine with city water, too.

So I will stop worrying and look forward to gardening!

[campingcorgis]

Lots of cities use well water as their water source.  Our water here in WA comes from an artesian well about 1 mile from us, as the crow flies. 

When we lived in L.A., CA, our city had a well too...but they didn't pipe that water into our homes.  They sold it to a neighboring city.  I had friends that lived in that city and one could SEE the living brine critters swimming in that water with the naked eye.  Straight from the spigot or faucet!  I kid you not.  Our water came from the Colorado river, as I understand it.  

[Sher]

Two of the pods are up.

The left rear pod sponge was torn and I think the seeds fell to deep to germinate. I sprinkled in two more seeds yesterday, and hope they catch up.

[Sher]

My lettuce is not thriving. One of the seedlings turned brown and started dying, and where the roots are usually aggressively growing at this stage, there are no visible roots growing out of the sponge yet.

My first inclination was to add Calmag. Then I realized my hard water is loaded with calcium and lime, and probably magnesium.

So my next step was to check the pH to see if it was too high, which would block uptake of essential nutrients.

The pH was 7.0, which isn't too bad, but I added a little pH Down and lowered it to 6.0.

So I am anxious to see if they look more vigorous soon.

[ERR0R1755]

Hopefully they'll perk up soon!

[campingcorgis]

Sher, did you ever use an inline water filter for your RV?  Maybe something along these lines?  You can probably find them in the RV aisle at Walmart (not using their website line here, because sometimes they price it different since they started their "rewards" thing?) or Home Depot or Lowes, etc.  Mikey uses them to connect to the spigot when he is washing the cars.  Helps get rid of the minerals so less spots on the car?  

They don't cost must and if you were only using it for filling up the AG's it might last a long, long time.  Might be worth a try before lugging water from a store or something?  

[Sher]

Good idea, if it would work, campingcorgis. But I have read that they do not remove lime, and our water has so much that it leaves a white deposit in pots.

My water out of the tap has 357 ppm. The lettuce looks better, but seems like it is in slow motion.

[Sher]

It looks like using the pH Down is helping!

[campingcorgis]

I understand that they make a filter that removes lime...so save appliances and fixtures.  It isn't expensive either, but I think it requires "installation," so probably a professional to do so...and permission from management.  Not worth the effort if the PH down is working?  

[Sher]

My sweet little lettuce garden is delighting me!

[Shawn]

They are so cute

[lynnee]

So pretty, Sher!

[Sher]

The lettuce is 3 weeks old today.

[Shawn]

That is going to make a lovely salad!