Does lettuce have a place in a survival garden?

Leaf lettuce starts after one month!

During hard economic times, ANYTHING a home owner does that eases the pocketbook is a good thing. In my life, vegetable salads play a big role. Most every lunch and dinner has a salad in it somewhere. With a head if iceberg lettuce running at $1.30 and more, there's nothing wrong with planting a tray or two of lettuce starts you began yourself from seed. (The cost for seed and soil is minimal and, if you plant romaine lettuce, you're getting more nutrition to boot)!

Fresh romaine lettuce

In additional to the romaine lettuce, I also like to plant carrots, peppers ans onions. All these have a welcome spot in the salad bowel too! In addition, both the carrots and onions can spend time hanging out in the soil for long periods after they are of 'picking' size. This helps me to create salads according to my schedule and needs. That plain old romaine lettuce also contributes to the mix with about four calories per ounce! All things considered, this is a must have addition to any garden, survivalist or not!

Remember that most any piece of ground that is well drained can grow veggies. Even a small four foot square area can produce enough salad material to keep a person out of the produce isle for much of the summer! Add a little more space and some canning equipment and you can stretch a harvest on into the winter months.

Those nice lettuce suprises found in odd places!

When you’re not in a survival mode, you can still take advantage of odd spots around your property to plant out some onion sets, cucumbers or whatever you might have. In this case, I had planted some lettuce seed back late last summer in a piece of bare ground by my drive. The plants got to be just big enough to survive what turned out to be a mild winter. I did nothing to help them other than a single time in early March to remove some weeds that were threatening to choke the area.

As you can see, even one small head of romaine can provide a couple of nutritious salads in early spring! I also harvested some chives that come up every year to throw in. Now, while you could not survive on lettuce and chives, it goes to show how just a little effort can provide some ‘nice surprises that can be added to whatever you have put up over the winter. In a situation where you might have to depend on your own devices, getting some green in March could prove important!