Forks in the Dirt

As you start growing more of your own fresh produce you realize pretty quickly that early spring lettuces bolt by July and leave you longing for something green, crisp, and light to add to your salad bowl during the hottest part of summer.

But there are some obvious reasons to skip buying lettuce at the grocery store.

2026 is the year of the cyclosporiasis outbreak. It is a disease transmitted by a microscopic parasite and gives people extreme diarrhea. The number of reported cases of cyclosporiasis is nearing 12,000 in 30 states according to Johns Hopkins.

I have the article, Local Food For Thought and have been helping people grow more of their own food and creating ways to know your farmer as parts of the solution. Also, we need better working conditions for those growing and harvesting food on large scale commercial farms. But I digresss…

So, over the years I’ve come up with what works for me in my garden to keep enjoying salads all summer long. Adding even one of these lettuce alternatives will help you eat fresh crisp salads into the dog days of summer!

But also, these crop alternatives can’t be too fussy about things, because while I LOVE salad, late summer is also absolute go time for all the things on our small homestead- from harvesting and preserving, and trying to keep up with weeding, so I do not have time for fussy plants that don’t produce!

Let’s start with the exception first…

Slow-to-Bolt Lettuce Varieties

Canasta makes it into mid-July in my zone 4 Minnesota garden when planted in part shade or under another taller plant. Canasta along with Winter Density are the varieties that have consistently held their sweet, crispy crunch the longest in my gardens. You can take a deep dive and read my article on Growing Great Lettuce.

Leafy Greens that Hold Up in the Heat

Kale

Sturdy and still small and tender during the summer months, I like ‘Darkibor’ and ‘Marrowstem’ varieties for adding to greens mixes. They do get tougher as the season goes on, and they get sweeter once a frost hits them. But they’re a solid sub for lettuces during the dog days of summer!

Nappa Cabbage

These are often very mild, and do not bolt nearly as early as lettuce. I especially like the variety ‘Bilko’ as a stand in for greens. You can cut out the thicker rib if you want, but I like the added crunch and heft it gives to salads. The inner leaves also make wonderful ‘scoops’ to place other cold salads onto. (think egg salad and chicken salad). I especially love using the purple Nappa variety Merlot for Asian inspired lettuce wraps, I mean come on how beautiful is that!?!

Baby Beet Leaves

When harvested young, beet greens are mild, sweet and oh so tender. I plant beets thicker than recommended, and a little later in the season in order to harvest out lots of beet leaves to replace other greens. Try Avalanche, an all white variety that has the mildest beets and leaves I’ve ever tasted.

Baby Swiss Chard

Timing is everything when looking to lettuce alternatives.

Swiss chard is unbelievably tender and enjoyable raw in salads when the leaves are still small, slightly shiny and curled. It also adds beautiful bursts of color and a flavor contrast to other salad ingredients.

Bonus points for growing rainbow varieties to up the color fun factor.

Malabar Spinach

I think Red Malabar (shown in photo) taste a little earthier than beet leaves, but make the cut because they keep producing right through July and August.

They are also beautiful vining plants that adorn my arching trellises and fill in where diseased bean and tomato leaves have been cut back. They get a late start here in Minnesota but comes through when everything else is wilting.

Both red and green varieties available, I’ve only grown the red.

Quick-Growing Options: Microgreens

Always an option and ready in 2 weeks, easy to grow indoors even in the hottest weather. From arugula, cabbages, broccoli and pea shoots- lots of flavor options and texture benefits. While I don’t usually have time or energy to do this in late summer, I do love growing microgreens in the winter.

Garden Vegetables that Work as Lettuce Alternatives

Zucchini

File this under “Use What You’ve Got”. 

Now here me out, using a mandolin ‘small shred’ to make mini-sticks of zucchini leaves enough crunch to be a great base layer of many salads and completely takes the place of lettuce in many of my late summer salads. Making ‘zoodles’ is another easy way to sub in zucchini. Slicing it thin into discs can also work for layering on sandwiches.

Obviously, go for the smaller zucchini’s here, and scoop out the fleshy core and larger seeds. Or you can use the big guys for Zucchini Sweet Relish, Fritters, or one of my other Zillion Ways to Zucchini.

Shredded or Sliced Cucumber

Same as Zucchini, but even more crunch and lightness. And I know cucumbers can stand on their own as a salad, like the viral tiktok @logagagm showcases.

I recommend using a mandolin ‘shred’ or ‘slice’ not a cheese grater, and if the cucumber is large, scoop out the seeds.  I suggest only shredding what you want to use right away because cucumber tends to go limp quickly.

Once the weather starts cooling a little, I’ll replant lettuce, arugula, spinach  etc- usually under a shade cloth to keep them from getting too hot…

I hope these lettuce alternatives help get you through the late summer slump- AND far away from any Cyclosporiasis outbreaks.

Dig In,
Michelle

In nature, pioneer species (like lichens, crabgrass, or dandelions) sacrifice themselves to build the future. They break down rock, fix nitrogen, and accumulate organic matter. When they die out because other species move in, they leave behind rich, deep topsoil so that forests, prairies, and other stable climax communities can thrive.

America’s expansion on the continent has flipped this script, at least so far.

But I see change happening and hope rising all around me as people realize the they are part of nature.

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Grow Your Own Groceries + Take Back Control

Between unpredictable grocery prices and supply chain hiccups, it’s easy to feel a bit powerless when walking through the supermarket aisles. But what if the ultimate security system wasn’t something you bought, but something you grew? Growing your own food doesn’t have to be complicated, and you don’t need to grow everything. Just start with something!

Taking back your power starts with planting a few plants, using whatever space you have.

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A recipe with two ingredients a little time in the dehydrator with a big pay off: rhubarb sour candy from the garden!

These taste like if Sour Patch® had a kid with simple ingredients + kept the fiber. I like the big flavor coupled with the little chew. I get to help out at our local elementary school, and the kids go crazy for them every year!

It is a great, simple way to use up some of the rhubarb and not make yet another crisp… but if you’re looking for tips on growing rhubarb or other recipes, I have you covered.

Rhubarb Sour Candy Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4-5 stalks of Rhubarb
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

Directions:
Slice the rhubarb lengthwise on a mandolin (I use my thin setting) leaving them as long as you can. This is the putzy part, and I usually save the extras pieces that don’t make nice long strips for making rhubarb sauce or something.

Mix a 1:1 sugar/water solution into a medium sized sauce pan so the rhubarb slices fits easily.

Simmer for 3-5 minutes or until you notice the stalk strips becoming much softer. Then, using a pair of tongs, gently pull out the strips and lay flat on either a dehydrator tray or parchment paper.

Set dehydrator to 140F and let them go for 7-8 hours, or set your oven at the lowest setting (usually 225F) and watch closely after 15 minutes. Remove from dehydrator or oven and let cool completely.

Chop into desired sizes, and store in airtight container for up to 1 week. (But they will be gone before that!)

Let me know if you try this fun “nature’s own” rhubarb sour candy recipe and what you think of it!

Enjoy!
Michelle

Let’s shrink your lawn with sustainable turf alternatives!

This guest post is brought to us by the legend, Bob Dahm. Many of my Midwest garden friends will know him as “Organic Bob,” which is how I knew him when we first met about 5 years ago.

He has guided our family on our own home lawn re-seeding (with tougher native grasses) and bee lawn areas with great success. This is because he sees our yards and gardens as integral parts of the natural world, not separate from them.

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Are you itching to get planting but the soil isn’t warming fast enough?

Growing under the cover of a low tunnel is the answer to jump start your spring vegetable garden. Most of the veggies shown here were started under a DIY low tunnel.

These temporary structures are basically ‘low to the ground’ greenhouses, hence the ‘low’ tunnel. The simple, arched structures are efficient at trapping passive solar heat and holding it in the soil. In Minnesota we often get snow into April, so the reinforced arches are key to keeping plants happy during spring storms.

Inexpensive and easy to build, low tunnels can be popped up anywhere, so they’re perfect for small space gardens. They also work well with crop rotation, as you can move where you’re growing your earliest crops each season.

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