Help! Mystery Plant growing in our garden

[kdmorris]

So, my husband and I finally got off our lazy bums and planted a garden. One of the veggies I love it Butter Lettuce. So, I bought something that looked like (and said it was!) Butter Lettuce and put it in the ground. For a while, I didn't think the plant was going to make it but then it took off. Except...it's NOT Butter Lettuce. It's now 27" tall and has clusters of flowers (that look a little like broccoli). These clusters then grow out into long stems with yellow flowers on the end of them. They are edible, as I tasted one of the leaves, when I still thought it was Butter Lettuce. It was very bitter, but I'm not dead. There are four distinct stalks of this stuff growing. Here's a picture:



Anyone know what the hell this is?

[kdmorris]

1. Thanks to DU Lounge

Apparently, it's still lettuce, but it's "bolted".

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. It's is some leafy green.

Most of the lettuces I grow have white flowers when they bolt. Mustards and some cole crops (like collards) have yellow flowers however.

[LiberalEsto]

3. Looks like bolted lettuce to me

Note yellow flowers mentioned in this link:

http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/book/chap6/lettuce.html

"The terminal of the inflorescence is primarily a panicle or cluster of yellow flowering heads."

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. Bet it's just the varieties I grow that are white blooms

It gets hot here early so I don't get to grow most lettuces that others do.

[NJCher]

4. yep

That's what lettuce looks like when it bolts.



Cher

[Gormy Cuss]

6. Now that you know it's bolted, here are some suggestions.

Plant lettuce in late fall and again in late winter. Your climate is too hot for late Spring/early summer planting. I live in a Zone 9 area and that's what we do. We use floating row covers for protection against the light frosts but other than that, it's easy to grow lettuce here in the winter.

If you really want summer lettuce, look for special bolt-resistant varieties and plant them in an area with afternoon shade. If you have no such area, you can build a simple shade house with scrap lumber and shade cloth. I make ones based on a reader submission in and old Organic Gardening magazine -- they're shade cloth loosely stretched over a hinged frame to form a tent.

[wildeyed]

7. I usually let some of my lettuce bolt.

Feeds the bees, and if I remember, I collect the seed for later.

This year I left some space on the shady side of my pole beans and planted bolt resistant lettuce there. We have been having 100 degree weather, so the seedlings are getting fried even with twice daily watering. Hope it works out. Would be nice to have summer salads.

[Gormy Cuss]

8. We gave up on summer lettuce because we can get some locally grown in a cooler area

and because we grow so many summer-only crops like corn and tomatoes. We have a large yard but the soil is heavy clay. Our raised beds are the only friable soil we have.

There's a very bolt resistant variety of lettuce called "Jericho" from Israel. If I try lettuce again in the summer I'll try that.

[kdmorris]

9. By late fall, do you think late October is good?

We decided to try again late October, or maybe late November.