I've found it beneficial to start lettuce in a flat. I scatter seed in a small container and transplant into a flat with small cells when they are large enough to handle. I set them out in the garden when they are about 2 inches tall. This method allows me to have nice even rows with no skips and it is economical of the very small lettuce seed. The Nevada lettuce in my garden now is large and beautiful. It shows no signs of bolting with temps around 80°F daily. It was started in flats in April. I ate the first heads three weeks ago. Jim

I'm holding off doing any fall planting until this drought breaks. We're not under any water restrictions yet in our county, but I know a lot of counties are doing mandatory or volunteer restrictions.

Remove and store in ziplock bag in the fridge or for longer storage, blanch and freeze them. Dave

The advantage to fall clean-up of bearded iris, in my experience and in the experiences of those who taught me about it, is that it's *easy* to do a thorough job of preventing several common bearded iris problems if you do the work in the fall. Cutting the foliage enables a gardener to look closely at the rhizomes, the leaves and the ground around the plants. It's easier to see some things in fall than it is to see them in spring, and fall is a good time to make sure there's no scorch, leaf spot or rot on the plants. Sometime between late Oct. and mid Dec. (depending on weather and when I happen to get around to it), I cut all of the fans on all of my bearded iris to about 2", sometimes even a little shorter. After I've done this, it's easy to see any leaves that died during the growing season. (This is a normal process for bearded iris.) Sometimes, these leaves are attached to the rhizomes but have fallen away from the fan. But usually, the dead leaves have already detached from the fans and are lying on the ground around the plants. These dead leaves are the ones most likely to carry disease (leaf spot, etc.) and borer eggs. After cutting the fans, I also usually see 1-4 outside leaves that are on their way out--they're still attached to the fans and still somewhat green, but they've begun to yellow or brown. I pull the dying (or even only just brown or yellowed at the base) leaves right off the fans every fall. One could do this in the early spring, yes, but with wet, snowy winters and many freeze-thaw cycles, the dead leaves tend to decompose--to a surprising degree--over the winter. It's a lot harder to find them in the spring. It's also a lot harder to find them (regardless of season) when the iris foliage is uncut, since the dead leaves tend to fall off in-between the rhizomes. Jo is right about leaf spot. It's best prevented the way one prevents botrytis in peonies, by cutting off and disposing of diseased foliage in fall. Don't compost anything cut off of a bearded iris, except maybe the flower stalk. I also use cutting bearded iris leaves in the fall as an opportunity to get a really good look at the rhizomes. I like to make sure that I haven't accidentally mulched over them or covered them with dirt (while planting something else nearby, or what-have-you), and that none of the durned norway maple leaves have matted down over or between the ehizomes. And it's a good opportunity to make sure there's no sign of rot before heading into a wet, cold period. I love the evergreen iris foliage. But I've come to like the cut fans just as well, if not better, over the winter. They give me peace of mind. My iris increase rapidly, bloom abundantly and have no borers, soft rot/scorch or leaf spot--haven't for as long as I've been doing this fall clean-up (ca. 7 years, I think). I use no pesticides or fungicides on them. For a few years, I tried a "control group" of various bearded iris hybrids, which I did not cut but which I cleaned, as thoroughly as I could, in spring. Some were fine. But a number of them got scorch their first uncut year and several had serious borer issues plus scorch and soft rot during their second year. That ended the control group...no more problems. So (again, in my experience), fall clean-up is easier and more thorough than spring clean-up, especially for organic gardeners and/or those who rely heavily on prevention of various plant ailments. If cleaning in the spring works for you, by all means, do that. But if you're new (or new-ish) to growing bearded iris, I'd recommend cutting the fans to 2" and cleaning up all dead or yellowing leaves in the late fall. Amanda