Lamb's lettuce is usually considered a typical winter vegetable, but it can be grown in your own garden almost all year round. Since it grows relatively quickly and the work of pricking out is hardly worthwhile, it is usually sown directly on the spot in pots or in the bed.

The harvest is determined by the time of sowing

Due to its frost tolerance, lamb's lettuce is a lettuce that usually replaces other types of lettuce in the winter months. Nevertheless, if necessary, you can harvest this lettuce almost all year round. The hardy varieties of lamb's lettuce can still be sown in late autumn and then harvested in spring a few weeks after the snow has melted. From sowing to the first harvest, lamb's lettuce takes about ten to twelve weeks, depending on the variety and season.

The right seeds for every season

When selecting the seed, pay attention to the information in the planting instructions. Some varieties are optimal for sowing in spring, while others develop optimal growth when sown in autumn. Still other varieties can survive the winter outdoors or in balcony boxes (€109.00) and thus ensure a harvest in March and April. The following varieties are all-rounders that deliver relatively consistently good results all year round:

  • favour
  • Ovired
  • Gala

Do not harvest lamb's lettuce just once

Lamb's lettuce has a special feature that makes it particularly valuable and profitable in the vegetable patch. When harvesting the lettuce leaves, make sure to carefully cut off only the upper part of the plants with scissors or your fingernail. If you leave the root and base of the plant in the ground undamaged, you can expect the lettuce plant to sprout again. In this way, lamb's lettuce can be harvested several times in a row from the same plants without having to reseed them.

Harvest lamb's lettuce from the balcony

You can even harvest lamb's lettuce without your own garden if you grow it in pots or flower boxes (€16.99) on the balcony. This cultivation variant is particularly interesting for a spring harvest. So you can grow the lamb's lettuce in autumn from seeds of a hardy variety when the flowers have already withered and then let it overwinter in the flower box (€16.99).

tips and tricks

Only ever harvest as much lamb's lettuce as you can use fresh. When cut off, this salad will only keep in the fridge for a maximum of one to two days.

Category:

Vegetable garden