Lettuce

Today I harvested my first head of lettuce. It was great! I grew it from seeds planted in late April. The lettuce was slightly more bitter and dare I say more flavorful than lettuce I get in the store. Much to my surprise, there was only one bug on the whole head and not that much dirt. I think the midnight slug attack from a few weeks ago paid off - the lettuce had been chewed in and out and through by the slimy nocturnal creatures so in one weekend I initiated every slug attack I had heard of:

1) Go out with a headlamp in the dark and pick them off (Eeew. Between the lettuce and the dahlias I got about 50.).
2) Put coffee grounds around the base of the plant (thanks to the barista at Victrola who gave me a whole bag).
3) Sprinkle eggshells around the base of the plant (no, they don't smell like rotten eggs).
4) (I was actually too lazy for this one...) Put a cupful of beer half deep in the soil and let them clamour to the "bar" and get drunk and die. Poor suckers don't know when to say when.
5) Apply Sluggo to the soil. Now, Sluggo is not labeled as organic but every organic-friendly garden store sells it. Technically it's made from iron phosphate which "occurs naturally in the soil." When slugs eat it, they feel full and stop eating so they starve to death. (more information here)

Frankly, I think #5 was the one that did the trick. The others look nice and organic and are much more natural than the Sluggo option, but the darn stuff really seems to work. Next time maybe I'll try random assignment of slug control mechanism, but for now I'm happy to have a home-grown salad.