Lettuce - Loose Leaf

Type: Vegetable

Rotation Group: 0, No rotation needed


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LOLLA ROSSA

The classic red-leaved, fringed cut-and come-again lettuce, it looks good growing in patio pots. A 'must' for the summer salad bowl. Pick whole heads or a few leaves at a time. It has great flavour too!
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MAZUR

This lettuce is a loose leaf (non-hearting), green ?frisee? type with crisp, sweet and well textured leaves. It is a very attractive variety with an excellent shelf life once harvested and good resistance to tipburn and the downy mildew races.
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SALAD BOWL GREEN

This is the classic cut-and-come-again lettuce. Pick a few frilly leaves for your salads as required, or cut it whole as a mature, unhearted head. Either way, it not only looks attractive on the plate, but tastes delicious too. Forms large lime-green rosettes of delicate tender deep-notched oak-like leaves.
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SALAD BOWL RED

The gorgeous red-tinged bronze leaves of this lovely loose-leaf lettuce are deeply lobed, like an oak leaf, and look very pretty in salads. It's a cut-and-come-again type, so you can pick the outer leaves over several weeks and the heart continues producing more.

Site, Soil and Preparation

Grow lettuces in full sun in moisture-retentive soil. Early and late sowings may need protection against cold, using cloches, plastic tunnels or horticultural fleece. Prepare the ground for your Lettuce seed sowing, removing weeds, fork in organic matter or well-rotted manure. Consolidating and raking a nice fine seedbed.

Indoor Sowing

Alternatively, start lettuce off in trays of individual cells or a cell propagator. Always use a decent peat-free compost.

Outdoor Sowing

Sow seeds thinly, 13mm (1/2in) deep, in rows 30cm (1ft) apart. Sow a short row every fortnight to ensure continuity of cropping.

Thinning

Thin seedlings as soon as the first true leaves appear and continue until the plants are 30cm (1ft) apart. The seedlings you thin out can be added to salads.

Transplanting

Indoor sown lettuce seed can be transplanted once large enough to handle.

Care

Watering regularly particularly in dry conditions, a regular liquid feed will be beneficial and always check for the dreaded slugs and snails.

Harvest

You can harvest lettuces from late spring through to winter, if sown regularly using suitable seasonal varieties. Loose-leaf varieties can be harvested as soon as the leaves are big enough to be worth eating - either snipping a few outer leaves from each plant or cutting the whole lot from one plant.