Compared to head lettuce, lettuce has become more and more popular in recent years, not only because of its tender leaves and fine taste. The different varieties of lettuce also impress with their color shades and leaf shapes, which are perfect for garnishing delicious dishes and salads.

Which varieties should you plant?

When it comes to picking lettuce, choosing the right seed is not just a matter of preference for a particular leaf shape. With lettuce, more than with other types of vegetables, you should make sure that the seed is sown according to the instructions at the recommended time of year. This is the only way to ensure optimal development of the lettuce varieties, which are often adapted to a specific season.

Where is pickle lettuce cultivated?

Like any other type of lettuce, pickle lettuce can be grown in a raised bed or in a regular garden bed. However, most varieties are very susceptible to snail infestation. In order to be able to prevent this situation, cultivation in a snail-proof raised bed can make sense. The best protection against snails is usually found when cultivating lettuce on the balcony, where snails generally find it very difficult to get to.

When can you sow or pull up lettuce?

From the end of February at the earliest it makes sense to sow lettuce if you want to grow it outdoors. The young plants grown on the windowsill can be planted outdoors around mid-May at the earliest if they are protected from late night frosts with a fleece. From May and when the temperatures are warm from the end of April, you can also sow various types of lettuce directly outdoors.

What do you need to know about the flowering of the pickle lettuce?

Basically, when growing lettuce, one generally does not attach importance to flowering of the cultivated plants. Since the seeds for lettuce can usually be obtained very cheaply, the work of collecting seeds is not really worthwhile. In addition, the leaves of the pickle lettuce can only be eaten before flowering, as they then take on a very bitter taste. If you have overlooked a timely harvest, you can sometimes look forward to self-sowing the lettuce for the next generation of lettuce plants.

On what soil substrate and how densely can lettuce be grown?

To cultivate lettuce, you should use a moderately fertilized and loose substrate. Lettuce can only tolerate waterlogging to a very limited extent, but it shouldn’t be allowed to dry out in summer when it’s very hot. A soil enriched with compost offers ideal conditions for a rich harvest for almost all types of lettuce. For a harvest of strong and beautiful lettuce leaves, it is also important to keep a distance of at least five to ten centimeters between the individual lettuce plants.

tips and tricks

It's usually not a problem if you haven't sowed lettuce in February due to lack of time or space. The following cultivars can quickly grow to a harvestable size, even when no-till outdoors, due to their strong growth characteristics:

  • Venetians
  • Lollo Bionda
  • Lollo rosso

Category:

Vegetable garden