My Tiny PlotMonty-Approved Lettuce
Last year we grew Little Gem, Pentard Red and Webbs Wonderful lettuce, with great success. Obviously, because it was our first year we made a lot of mistakes.
We planted far too many seeds, all at the same time and far too close together. This year we’re much wiser. And… we’ve got Monty on our side. As I found out after reading his book, The Complete Gardener, Monty is crazy about lettuce. He grows it all year round and has a poly tunnel dedicated to the task. On his list of ‘approved’ lettuces are the following:
Cos Lettuce = Little Gem, Lobjoits Green, Rouge d’Hiver.
Butterhead Lettuce = Tom Thumb, Merveille de Quatre Saisons.
Looseleaf = Salad Bowl, Red Oak Leaf.
Red Lettuce = Red Salad Bowl, Aruba.
Iceberg = Mini Green.
Winter Lettuce = Winter Density & All the Year Round.
Out of those I have chosen one from each group – Little Gem, Aruba, Salad Bowl, Lobjoits Green, All the Year Round and Merveille de Quatre Saisons. I ordered them all from The Organic Catalogue and Johnsons Seeds (I did look at The Cutting Garden, Sarah Raven’s site but they were the most expensive and charged £2.50 for delivery, so I didn’t bother).
I know it’s a lot of lettuce to be growing, but we really like it, and you have to leave some for the slugs, don’t you?
Succesional growing is this year’s must for me too. Last year i had a lovely week of fresh lettuce salad, and then that was about it. Are you growing any rocket?
We grew wild rocket out on the plot last year but once the flea beetles had dined there was little left for our empty tums. This year we’re growing it in the cold frame in an attempt to out-smart the beetle. I think the variety is Rucola.
Last year we grew a selection from Nickys Seeds, found them one of the cheapest online, sown in succession had a wonderful supply of fresh lettuce and baby leaf mixtures