< Previous80 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 2602 SANTA FE PL GALVESTON, TX 77550 GALVESTONRRMUSEUM.ORG 409-765-5700 NOVEMBER 11 - DECEMBER 23, 2022 Now you can look younger with a new kind of cosmetic denture. Dentures should not only fit well and feel comfortable, they should look good too. Using neuromuscular dentistry we can achieve a better bite and the best fit for your dentures. Avoid that “sunken in” look of unnatural looking dentures. With our new cosmetic dentures the results speak for themselves. Before After Dental Cosmetic Center – Bay Area John K. Hackbarth, DDS and Lauren Houliston, DMD General Dentistry 1708 Amburn Rd., Suite A, Texas City, Texas (409) 316-3470 • www.newsmiletoday.com DenturesFaceLift COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 81 CALLUS:(409)770-9503 LifeIsUnpredictable. YourInsuranceCoverage Shouldn'tBe. www.InsuranceGalveston.com We'veGotYouCovered! HOMEOWNERS.WINDSTORM FLOOD.AUTO.UMBRELLA COMMERCIALGENERAL LIABILITY ThereisNoBetterTimeTo ProtectWhatMattersMost! YourFamily'sFinancial Future. LIFEINSURANCE LONGTERMCARE DISABILITYINCOME ASSETPROTECTION In Independent Living you can be who you were meant to be.... It’s never too late to discover new hobbies, start an exercise program, and make new life-long friends. Choose The Meridian Independent Living and let us take care of the little things ~ so you can live big! Enjoy our fine dining, coffee bar, on-site library, fitness room and movie theater. Spend some quiet time in our chapel. Participate in scheduled activities. Take a walk on the beach. Your days can be filled with all of this and more! The Beach House Assisted Living & Memory Care gives the residents the support they need while they maintain their dignity and independence. On our Post-Acute Skilled Unit we provide Skilled Nursing and Therapy after a hospital stay where Medicare and Insurance will often cover your stay. We also offer Long-Term Care. At The Meridian, we are not just community... we are Family. Call us today or Book a Tour here! We can’t wait to meet you! www.themeridian-galveston.com Call today 409.763.6437 2228 Seawall Boulevard, Galveston Island, TX 77550 The Meridian is a Senior Living Community82 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 GARDEN VARIETY LETTUCE REJOICE These leafy vegetables are easy to grow and thrive in the fall story by BARBARA CANETTI | photos courtesy of HERMAN AUER A n easy fall crop that just keeps on giving back is lettuce: leafy, iceberg, salad blends and other greens. These plants like the cooler fall weather. Cuttings can be harvested while the plant continues to grow and produce. Lettuce plants easily can be started from seeds indoors or outside. And after five or six weeks, there should be enough fresh leaves to be harvested for a salad. Cut the outer leaves off the plant, allowing the new growth to continue. There are more than 200 varieties of lettuce and many of them do well along the upper Texas coast. (Above) Leaf lettuce grows in a variety of colors, from green to burgundy. (Opposite) Romaine or cos lettuce has tall, elongated heads with firm green leaves, which are high in calcium and vitamins A and C. COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 8384 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 GARDEN VARIETY With more than 200 varieties of lettuce, many of which grow well along the upper Texas coast, you can harvest your own gourmet salad blend. COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 85 Paintings dating back to 4500 B.C. in Egyptian tombs depict lettuce. The early Romans cultivat- ed different species to improve the taste, which in its earliest recorded history was bitter and contained sleep-inducing qualities. Although lettuce is a member of the sun- flower family, it was considered a weed, with prickly leaves and unpleasant flavor. Modern lettuces don’t contain those qualities. In fact, some have been grown and refined to have a sweet taste. The most popular types of lettuce for our climate are the leaf or loose- leaf lettuce, which grow in a variety of colors from green to burgundy, as well as varieties with speckled leaves. Bibb, which is a butterhead lettuce, is popular as well, with tight rosettes of leaves and is a medium green color. The romaine or cos type of lettuce has tall, elongated heads with firm green leaves, which are high in calcium and vitamins A and C. These plants are sought after because they’re slow to “bolt,” which is when the plant stops growing and starts producing flow- ers and seeds. The other variety is the iceberg or crisp head, with green leaves on the outside and lighter-colored leaves on the inside. These don’t grow well in our area. A blend of lettuces and greens — known to Seeding Galveston customers and chefs as spicy salad blends — is probably the most popular market offering year-round, said Debbie Berger with Seeding Galveston. “The wide variety of ingredients not only makes it unique, super nu- tritious and special, it also enables us to offer the blend nearly every week of the year,” Berger said. “It is never boring because it is never quite the same.” Seeding Galveston is an urban farmers market where many variet- ies of fruits, vegetables, herbs and other organic foods are grown and sold. Most of the lettuces grown at the Seeding Galveston farm on 33rd Street and Avenue N get their start in the greenhouse before being transplanted outside. “At any given time, we might have 120 to 360 feet or more of garden space planted in lettuces,” Berger said. The go-to varieties for Galves- ton-area growing are heat tolerant: tropicana, fusion and Muir. Seeding Galveston buys seeds from specialty companies and eval- uates them based on long season, tough/heat tolerant, sturdy structure, flavor and slow to bolt. The organization also grows many salad blends: ovation, premi- um, kaleation and elegance — all grown from seed, which are sown by hand, covered in a compost/peat blend and nurtured through the var- ious stages. The plants are thinned out and picked weekly. When planting the tiny, flat seeds, don’t bury them too deep and cover them with about ¼ inch of light sand or compost. Mist them thoroughly and press them into the soil gently. Keep the seeds moist until they sprout. If they dry out, they’ll die. Use a mister nozzle so seeds won’t be washed away and keep the population of plants several inches apart in rows. Thin them out as needed. Fertilize lightly with a water-sol- uble solution. The only pests that bother lettuce are aphids: a blast of water should rid the plants of the insects. And even if it gets cold, most lettuces can tolerate a light freeze. Just cover the plants if the temperatures are going to drop. Leaf lettuces should be ready to harvest within 40 days. 86 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 FEATURE GROWING OPPORTUNITY Island students help feed ailing sea turtles – even the picky ones story by BARBARA CANETTI | photos courtesy of THERESA MORRIS T heresa Morris needed help in feeding patients in the turtle hospital run by the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research at Texas A&M University at Galveston. Morris, who helps run the Pelican Island facility, got the idea to get youngsters involved in growing lettuce and kale at their schools to help feed the ailing green turtles in the hospital. “While I was struggling to find time in the day for constant grocery runs for my sea turtle patients, I would go pick up my children after school and my daughter, Lilly, would have this giant bag of beauti- ful fresh produce that she got for free in the after-school gardening program,” Morris said. “I remember sitting in my car thinking, I am missing out on an opportunity here.” With the help of Christopher Marshall at Texas A&M University at Galveston, Honi Alexander, director of Galveston’s Own Farmers Mar- ket Young Gardeners Program and the principals at Oppe Elementary School and Collegiate Academy, gardens were set up by students who raised and harvested the crop to feed the turtles. “Since the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research partners with the Galveston Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists, there was a natural transition to include them, and now, led by Maureen Nolan-Wilde and Carlos Rios, the sea turtle gardens also include short educational visits for the students to learn about sea turtles in our backyard,” she said. More gardens at additional schools are planned this year, Morris said. Mature green sea turtles, which live in the back bays around Gal- A green turtle at the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle research at Texas A&M University at Galveston eats lettuce grown by students at Oppe elementary School. (Left) Lilly Morris with lettuce grown and harvested at the school. COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 87 veston, mostly are vegetarian. During the winter months, they’re at risk when water temperatures drop below 50 degrees. In the colder water, they slowly lose the ability to eat and swim, and will float to the surface where they’re susceptible to boat strikes, predation and pneumonia. “We send out volunteers during these events to help us rescue as many as we can,” Morris said. “Once they are in our rehabilitation hospital, their stay with us will vary depending on their injuries, but regardless, we end up with a need for a lot of vegetables.” The facility feeds the turtles an omnivorous diet of squid, shrimp and a combination of leafy green vegetables, bell peppers, cucum- bers or squash. “Some sea turtles are very picky and will only eat a specific lettuce their entire stay with us,” Morris said. The school gardens already have saved the center $200 in produce bills, she said. “The students were excited to help, and I think it offered a different dy- namic to the program, and a new connection to sea turtles,” she said. editor’s note: Carlos rios is the husband of writer barbara Canetti.88 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 Imagine your home, totally organized! Custom Closets Garage Cabinets Home Offices Wall Beds Wall Organizers Pantries Laundries Wall Units Hobby Rooms Garage Flooring Media Centers and more... Call for a free in home design consultation and estimate 409-904-0787 www.closetsbydesign.com CM Follow us Terms and Conditions: 40% off any order of $1000 or more or 30% off any order of $700 or more on any complete custom closet, garage, or home office unit. Not valid with any other offer. Free installation with any complete unit order of $600 or more. With incoming order, at time of purchase only. Expires in 30 days . 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