Growing cool, crisp salad greens mid-summer, is it an oxymoron?

What do you want to eat when you want to beat the heat? Well, I want a gigantic, cooling, salad fresh from the garden.

Generally, lettuce and salad greens tend to become bitter when days heat up beyond 90 degrees Fahrenheit and rain is a memory of spring. However, don't despair, a lush salad in July may be in your future.

These are my suggestions: choose heat-tolerant varieties, mulch with 6-8 inches of straw to conserve moisture, and irrigate. Johnny's seeds has an excellent selection of heat-tolerant lettuce varieties. Although, as a general rule, I avoid planting any butterhead types during the heat of summer. If irrigating mulched, heat-tolerant varieties isn't working for you, there is another tactic- shade cloth. An excellent, local garden store may have small sections of shade cloth for sale.

Beyond the realm of lettuce and spinach is perpetual spinach. This tough but tender green will stand up to the mid-summer heat without becoming bitter or rushing to flower, otherwise known as bolting. Cornell University has some great cultivation information. Fedco sells seeds for a reasonable price plus they have the most informative and entertaining variety descriptions in their catalog.