Not only the recipes for the preparation of lettuce have become more diverse, but also the varieties that you can easily grow in the home garden. With the right combination of different salads, you can harvest almost all year round.
The ideal salad bed
If you choose a location in full sun for your lettuce, you can avoid unnecessarily high nitrate levels. In addition, solid heads of lettuce do not form in the shade. You don't necessarily have to plant a whole bed, lettuce can also be used as a gap filler, because it is harvested after just a few weeks. The soil should be humic and well aerated, preferably with plenty of compost in it.
Which salad would you like?
The selection of lettuce varieties for the home garden is so large that every gardener should be able to find a suitable variety. A distinction must be made between summer and winter lettuce, but the color of the leaves and the taste of the lettuce also play an important role. Look out for robust varieties, these are more undemanding and have fewer problems with pests such as powdery mildew or aphids.
Here is a small selection of suitable lettuce varieties:
- 'Maikönig' has delicate yellow-green leaves and is particularly suitable for early cultivation.
- "Ice lettuce" forms very firm heads and is particularly crunchy, but is not very suitable for the field. Better to be grown in a greenhouse.
- "Attrakion" is one of the heat-resistant varieties.
- 'Merveille des quatre saisons' has reddish leaves and is well suited for cultivation from spring to autumn.
sowing and harvest
Lettuce can be grown well in the cold frame or in pots. So that the small plants can be planted out later more easily, you should not sow too densely. Two to three seeds per pot are ideal, or a row spacing of about 25 centimeters. This distance should later also be maintained between the individual heads.
Depending on the variety, you can harvest the first heads of lettuce after about five to seven weeks. Don't plant too many heads of lettuce at once, however, or the lettuce will start sprouting before you can harvest it. It is better to sow or replant every two to four weeks, then you can look forward to a regular harvest.
tips and tricks
For an early harvest, prefer plants under glass or buy them from your gardener. Don't plant your lettuce next to parsley or celery, it's not good for them. Lettuce plants need adequate moisture to keep them from shooting.