Plucking lettuce has become increasingly popular in recent years compared to lettuce, not only because of its delicate leaves and delicate taste. The different varieties of lettuce also impress with their colors and leaf shapes, which are perfect for garnishing delicious dishes and salad plates.
What is the best way to plant lettuce?
Planting lettuce is best done by sowing outdoors from the end of April in moderately fertilized, loose soil with a planting distance of 5 to 10 centimeters. Varieties such as Venetian, Lollo Bionda or Lollo Rosso are particularly suitable for direct sowing.
Which varieties should you plant?
When it comes to picking lettuce, choosing the right seeds doesn't just depend on your preference for a certain leaf shape. With lettuce, more than with other types of vegetables, you should make sure that the seeds are sown according to the instructions at the recommended time of year. This is the only way to ensure optimal development of lettuce varieties, which are often adapted to a specific season.
Where do you grow lettuce?
Like any other type of lettuce, lettuce can be grown in raised beds or in normal garden beds. However, most varieties are very susceptible to snail infestation. In order to prevent this situation, growing in a snail-proof raised bed (€69.00 on Amazon) can make sense. The best protection against snails is usually found when growing lettuce on the balcony, where snails generally find it very difficult to reach.
When can you sow or prefer to sow lettuce?
Sowing lettuce makes sense at the earliest from the end of February if you want to grow it outdoors. The young plants grown on the windowsill can be isolated outdoors around mid-May at the earliest if they are protected from late night frosts with a fleece. From May and, when temperatures are warm, from the end of April, you can sow various varieties of lettuce directly outdoors.
What do you need to know about the flowering of lettuce?
Basically, when growing lettuce, you generally don't value the flowering of the cultivated plants. Since seeds for lettuce are usually available very cheaply, the work of collecting seeds is not really worth it. In addition, the leaves of the lettuce can only be eaten before they bloom, as they then take on a very bitter taste. If you have overlooked a timely harvest, you can sometimes look forward to sowing the lettuce yourself for the next generation of lettuce plants.
On which soil substrate and how densely can lettuce be grown?
To cultivate lettuce, you should use moderately fertilized and loose soil. Lettuce can only tolerate waterlogging to a very limited extent, but it should not be allowed to dry out in the summer when it is very hot. Soil enriched with compost offers almost all types of lettuce ideal conditions for a rich harvest. For a harvest of strong and beautiful lettuce leaves, it is also important to maintain a distance of at least five to ten centimeters between the individual lettuce plants.
Tips & Tricks
It is usually not a problem if you have not yet sown lettuce in February due to a lack of time or space. The following varieties can quickly grow to a harvestable size even when sowed directly outdoors due to their strong growth characteristics:
- Venetians
- Lollo Bionda
- Lollo Rosso
