Best way to avoid cyclospora? Grow your own veggies.

What’s left of the lettuce in my garden is stretching more each day, with heads now resembling towers as the plants naturally start forming flowers. The leaves won’t taste as good as they would if I’d harvested them earlier, but they have one important thing going for them: no cyclospora.

That’s the nasty little parasite responsible for the explosive diarrhea outbreak making its way across the country that has been linked to iceberg lettuce. It’s likely that infected lettuce sold in grocery stores and served at some restaurants was exposed to fecal contamination in irrigation water or another source.

Of course, that exposure is accidental, and can be part of industrial farming operations.

So it’s with great confidence that I can harvest lettuce and other vegetables from my garden with absolutely no fear of cyclospora and other parasites or bacteria that can be found on vegetables. Because one of the numerous benefits of growing your own food is that you know exactly what goes into it.

The cyclospora issue is apparently causing people to try growing their own produce. And although it’s the middle of the growing season, some of the vegetables most affected by the cyclospora outbreak can still be grown and harvested this year.

In fact, even pots, tubs or large buckets could be used to start some vegetables if growing in the ground isn’t an option. All you need is a container with good drainage — drill several large holes in the bottom of a container if needed — and some soil. For pots, look for a container mix and blend in a small amount of bagged compost or well-rotted manure.

Most leafy greens can tolerate a bit of shade, and if you’re starting in August they will appreciate a break from the hottest part of the day, so place containers accordingly, if possible. If the only suitable location you have available to grow in is in full sun, you can provide a bit of shade in the hottest months of summer with an umbrella or shade cloth.

Then simply sow some seeds on top of moist soil and keep them consistently moist until they germinate. Leaf lettuce, meant to be harvested as individual leaves rather than heads, can be produced in as little as a month and harvested as “cut and come again,” meaning that leaves will regrow. Lettuce seed packs typically have 500 to 1,000 seeds, so a single $3 packet should suffice for the rest of the season.

Other leafy greens, including spinach, baby kale, mustard greens and arugula, can also be added to the mix, ensuring a nice variety of homegrown produce.

Greens are easy to grow and only need consistent moisture and partial sun to provide a good harvest. And, best yet, all they need is a rinse under cool water and spin in a salad spinner or to be patted dry with a clean towel and they are ready to eat. And because you controlled the whole growing process, there’s no need to worry about headline-grabbing parasites.