Honeymoon Salad? - "Lettuce Alone"

Happy Halloween!

It's the last day of October and we still have lettuce growing the the garden.  It's amazing!  It was planted at the end of July.  Even though we've had a couple of frosts, I covered it with a tarp on those few nights, and the temps did not get low enough to kill it.  We've been eating it since early September.  My DH planted it, but doesn't remember the variety. It's very much like Romaine lettuce - great for salads and in sandwiches. I've given it to neighbors and family.  It's been tender and delicious.  Now a hard freeze is predicted for tonight. It's fully mature; for the last week or so we've been eating the inner leaves.  I think I'll let it go tonight, but I say goodbye reluctantly; it's been a great crop.

Does this mark the official end of our 2010 vegetable garden season?  I guess, although we still have carrots, beets, and parsnips covered with leaves that I can dig as needed.  We harvest these root crops throughout the winter as long as the snow doesn't get too deep.  Of course, if we wait too long the deer will beat us to them.  I don't feel that bad if they eat the beets; I prefer them small and tender in the summer.  The carrots I've been digging a few at a time for the last month or so.  Parsnips we leave alone until after the first snows.  The cold weather seems to bring out their sweetness.  I've tried them earlier in the season, and they just don't taste the same.



This has been a wonderful crop of lettuce.