Lettuce! Temporary! Transient!
Grab yourself some shade and get to it. Plant some lettuces. Spinach. Greens. Lots of ’em. Get going! Spring is sproinged and summer is coming with weird sun angles and days full of day all built to make your lettuce bolt. Good lord! It’s hot! Time to throw up some seeds and call it a day. No, no.. I must be going. Go on without me.. remember me frondly. Tell carrot that I love her.
I will be picking lettuce probably through July, but it will get iffy. Some varieties bolt less easily, but lettuce is one of those crops that’s best to get an early jump on and plant in staggered weeks. Today I planted more spinach and more head lettuce along with a bit of mustard.
Nothing could be easier. Here’s a handy video from the Podchef showing just how unfussy lettuce (and radishes, scallions, herbs) can be about planting. The compost on top trick is a great one and something that I do. Lettuce typically needs a bit of sun to germinate so you don’t want to cover it up completely and a sprinkling of compost does the trick.
Compostings 
Hm, I usually put newspapers on top of my mesclun and keep them moist, keeps the birds from eating the seeds. Maybe I’ll try this and see if it works. Yes, bolting lettuce is annoying, but they won’t grow in too much shade either…
Sigh. I pulled my first lettuce for salad last night when i saw that it was starting to elongate. mercifully, it was still sweet and flavorful, but now I know that I’d better start harvesting the others and keeping an eagle eye on the others! Still so worth growing one’s own.