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How I Use A 

Nursery Tire Bed 

To Raise Romaine Lettuce

(click on any pictures to see an enlarged view)

As I explain in the Whizbang Garden Idea book, tire beds can be used as nursery beds. A nursery bed is a place to get seeds started and, later on, you transplant the seedlings into your main garden. A great example of this in my garden is romaine lettuce. My wife and I are avid "juicers." During the summer months, we consume a lot of lettuce in our morning glass of juiced fruits & vegetables. We also eat salads, of course, but, truth be told, I'd rather drink a head of romaine lettuce than eat it in a salad.

In the tire bed above I have planted pinches of Spretnak romaine lettuce seed, which I purchased from High Mowing Seeds. (Click Here for info on this variety). That picture was taken on June 5, 2013.

On June 16 (just about one month after planting the seeds) the little bunches of Spretnak were a good size for transplanting. To transplant the lettuce seedlings, I first use a trowel to lift up one of the bunches, as you can see above. I do this so that lots of soil (full of lettuce roots) is around the bunch.

The picture above shows another view of a just-excavated clump of lettuce seedlings, with lots of soil attached. Very nice.

To separate the individual romaine plants, without breaking the delicate roots, I use a bucket of water to "dissolve" the soil. In the picture above, I am about to lower the ball of soil and roots into the water.

While gently holding the leaves with one hand, I use my other hand to "pat" the ball of soil under the water. The soil particles will easily separate from the roots and settle down into the bottom of the bucket. In the picture above, most of the soil has "dissolved" away. I will dunk the roots again to remove the rest of the soil.

The picture above shows a clump of the Spretnak seedlings that have been dunked in water. They are gently (without damaging the roots) separated from each other for planting. Sometimes it is easier to separate the plants while the roots are submerged in the water.

I plant them immediately. Only three to five minutes elapse from the time I dig the clump of seedlings from the nursery bed to planting.

Also, I should make it clear that I did the transplanting in the late afternoon with a couple days of rain in the forecast. Which brings to mind "The True Gardener & The Man of Rules." (page 4 of the book). That 1886 advice from E.P. Roe is right on!

The picture above shows several of the lettuce seedlings planted in a raised bed in my garden. In the foreground you can see wetted planting spots. I employ Violet Purton Biddle's "Puddle Planting" technique from 1899 (page 60) when transplanting. Violet knew what she was talking about.

In the picture above you can see a portion of the planted bed. The Spretnak romaine is a small romaine variety. I planted in alternating rows of four and three, with the plants spaced around 8" apart. The raised beds are 42" wide. They were made as explained in Steve Solomon's excellent book, Gardening When It Counts  

The picture above was taken 18 days after transplanting. Every single mini-romaine I planted has taken root and grown nicely. Those plants, though still small, are ready for juicing!

A New Way 

To Wash Lettuce?

The nursery tire bed of Spretnak romaine lettuce had around 100 plants in it. I transplanted around half of the plants and used the remaining lettuce to make a baby romaine salad. In the above picture I am holding all the lettuce plants I didn't use. I dug them in clumps and dunked the soil-end of the clumps in the bucket of water to remove the soil.

There (above) is another view of the bunch of romaine mini-greens. All the roots are still attached. Small lettuce is typically harvested by cutting, but I discovered that digging the greens in a clump, then dissolving away the soil around the roots (in a bucket of water) makes it convenient to carry the lettuce into the house. And when I got the greens to the kitchen sink, they were a whole lot easier to wash (I cut away the roots after washing).

That got me to thinking that maybe it would make sense to plant leaf lettuce varieties in clumps and harvest them by digging (instead of cutting at ground level). There's an idea to try, and I have some leaf lettuce "bunches" planted in a tire bed now to see how the idea works.

And there's the salad I made from the bunch of Spretnak transplants. Take note of the Whizbang Pocket Cultivator. I didn't really eat my salad with that fine gardening implement, but it was in my pocket and I couldn't resist using it as a prop.

Transplanting 

Older Romaine Seedlings

The above tire bed of romaine lettuce (I think it is Jericho) was not planted in bunches. I just broadcast some seeds over the whole surface. As you can see, there is quite a mass of plants there, and they are a little big for transplanting. But I decided to try transplanting some of them anyway. I used the same method described at the top of this page.

In the picture above you can see the transplanted seedlings. I spaced the Jericho transplants 10" to 11" apart. Though I "puddle" transplanted in the afternoon, with a couple of days of rain in the forecast, the larger seedlings flagged from the shock of transplanting. But....

The picture above was taken 18 days after transplanting. The bigger  leaves on the outside of the transplants wilted and died away but the inner leaves have grown nicely. One or two of the plants didn't  survive transplanting.

The picture above shows the romaine lettuce at a month after transplanting. The heads are forming nicely and we are now juicing these healthy plants.

UPDATE: The Jericho romaine lettuces have grown big (picture above) and the flavor is wonderfully mild.