Growing lettuce all year round

Lettuce is a most astonishing plant and probably one of the most popular vegetable today, eaten all over the world. We pride ourselves to be fully self-sufficient if it comes to lettuce. From our garden and polytunnel we harvest lettuce 365 days a year, all colours, shapes , flavours and tastes.

We eat lettuce as salad with a simple dressing of two parts of oil to one part of vinegar, sea salt, pepper and a drizzle of organic apple syrup and we preferably eat is as a starter to activate the enzymes in our body for digestion.

Growing lettuce all year round - Here is ho we do it

•      Pick the right variety: Lettuce varieties that keep better through the Winter month with lower temperatures and less light are often of the loose leaf type. They are colourful, easy, and fast-growing varieties, which go from seed to baby leaves in five weeks, seed to big salad leaves in seven.

•      Prepare your beds, containers or polytunnel: Growing lettuce outside over the Winter needs weed free beds with good drainage and fertilised with good compost. Have cloches and garden fleece ready for extra protection in case of frost. We grow most of our Winter lettuces in our polytunnel and in some containers outside the kitchen door. Make sure your polytunnel is well ventilated every day.

•      Sow seeds at the right time: We start sowing in February and sow the last lettuce (winter varieties) from Mid-August to end of September for a supply that could last well into next April. I recommend raising lettuce plants in modules, because I feel more in control compared to sowing directly. I plant them out after three to four weeks. “Sowing thinly” is one of my golden rules for mixed leaf lettuce. The ideal germination temperature is around 18 degrees Celsius. 21 C and above can cause dormancy.

Harvest a little at a time: Produce your own mixed salads by growing a range of leafy salads from the cut and come again type. Harvesting the young leaves from outside in when you need them prevents plants from maturing and ensures several harvests of small, tender, mild-flavoured leaves over a long period of time.

Our personal harvesting tip: It is always best to harvest lettuce by hand, tearing the leaves apart or twisting the head from the roots. That way the lettuce keeps better than cutting with a knife or scissors.

 Most importantly: Varieties do matter

•      In growing: adapting to different conditions of soil, season, weather, climate

•      In eating: for taste

•      For health: nutritional value

•      In politics: for Biodiversity

 Summer and Winter varieties

We distinguish between Long Day Varieties used for summer crops (out and indoors) and  Short-Day Varieties (winter varieties),  suitable for protected cropping and used for Winter harvesting and overwintering tunnel crops or outdoors with protection.

 Here are the various Lettuce-Types and other salad leaves

•      Lettuce types – Lactuca sativa (Daisy family)

Ø  Batavia

Ø  Butterhead

Ø  Iceberg

Ø  Cos

Ø  Rocket -Eruca sativa

•      Chicory and endive (Daisy family)

•      Oriental Greens - brassicas (Mustard family)

Ø  Pak Choi

Ø  Mizuna

Ø  Mustards (Green and Red Frills)

•      Cress (Mustard family)

Ø  Landcress

Ø  Watercress

•      Winter purslane (Portulacea)

•      Corn salad, lambs lettuce – Valerianella locusta

Characteristics of some lettuce types

 Batavia:

•      Cross between Crisp Lettuce and Butterhead

•      Good vigour and weight

•      Do not wilt as quick as Butterheads

Butterheads (Marvel of four seasons, Buttercrunch, Tom Thumb)

•      Useful for early growing and protected cropping

•      Short shelf live

•      Wilt quickly

Crisp/Iceberg

•      Great for Head production

•      Not suitable for mixed bags

•      Long growing period

•      Require good irrigation

Cos/Romaine (Little Gem, Brune de’Hiver, Lobjoits Green, Winter Density)

•      Little Gem is “probably the best flavoured of all lettuces” (Joy Larkcom), can be sown all year round!

•      Brune de’Hiver, dating from 1885 and very popular, cold hardy for year round use

•      Clean plants ,as they stand up from the ground

Loose leaf (Lollo Rossa, Salad Oak, Oak leaf, Salad Bowl)

·         Great for single leaf pickings, cut and come again

Endives

•      Curled and plain leaf varieties available

•      Frost tolerant

•      Good substitute for lettuce in winter

•      Blanching reduces bitterness

•      August sowings recommended

•      Sowing, Planting and Growing as Lettuce

Oriental Greens

·         Popular during winter month as they are hardy

·         Hot flavour intensifies with maturity

·         They bolt rapidly in spring

·         Suitable for “cut and come “again

·         They can be raised in modules (3-4 seeds in each module)                    

·         First sowings can be made after mid-summer

·         They should be rotated in the brassica -section of the garden/tunnel

·         A 3 year rotation break is required for brassicas

·         Flea-beetle is the most troublesome pest

Other salad leaves

•      Beet Leaf, for example :“Red Bulls Blood” adds colour to the mixed salad bag

Spinach

•      mild tasting addition for mixed salad bags if harvested young and tender, avoid summer sowings as they bolt easily

Winter Purslane

•      Easy to grow , particular in a polytunnel

•      Very good for winter harvesting

•      Performs best from late summer sowings,

•      mild flavour ,high vitamin C content

Herbs and edible flowers

•      Wide range of edible flowers and  herbs can be included in mixed salads

Lettuces are a powerhouse of nutrients,

and because we eat them raw, they are an excellent source of antioxidants like Vitamin A ,C and E and minerals like Iron, Manganese and Potassium. The darker the leaves -  the higher the nutrient content. Eating a fresh green salad every day can be an important and necessary part of a healthy diet. And because lettuces are a perishable food it is best to grow them yourself all year round so you can harvest just before preparing your meal.

Lettuces are a powerhouse of nutrients, and because we eat them raw, they are an excellent source of antioxidants like Vitamin A ,C and E and minerals like Iron, Manganese and Potassium. The darker the leaves -  the higher the nutrient content. Eating a fresh green salad every day can be an important and necessary part of a healthy diet. And because lettuces are a perishable food it is best to grow them yourself all year round so you can harvest just before preparing your meal.