Well I was wrong about a descent frost on my last blog, but this past weekend on Nov 11, we had our first real frost. In fact my volunteered tomatoes did not survive. I did get a chance to cover my lettuce garden with plastic over the nights and seems to have done well, expect for the basil that was in there didn't make it either. but so far there has only been one frost and infact this week is in the mid 70's, so November has crazy weather.
But with the crazy weather there hasn't been much rain. There has been dew in the mornings which I think has kept the lettuce from doing great. With that said, why is my lettuce bitter? The simple answer is I Don't Know. There could be a few reasons.
1) Inconsistent watering: Like I said I have not been watering my beds for fall, they are to survive on their own. But inconsistent watering will stress the lettuce and it will become bitter.
2) Heat: Even though the temps have stayed low since the lettuce has been growing well, it is still in full sun, which as we all know in S.C. is quite hot, even in the fall. So growing in the shade would be a better option.
3) Nutrition: Growth has been slow much slower than it is suppose to be, but like I said I'm letting them fend for them selves. I could have kept on a nitrogen / fish emulsion fertilizing system to perhaps keep them growing in a quicker manner.
4) Variety: The kind of lettuce can effect where it is grown. I have a couple different varieties and can notice a large difference, being the spotted lettuce is much less bitter than the variety pack I have.
