Best Variety of Lettuce

[pumpkinworm]

Hello.

I'm new on this forum, I was just wondering whether anyone new of any good varieties of lettuce I could try. I'm going to make a seed order soon and i am after some new and different varieties.

Thanks

[Westi]

Welcome Pumpkinworm!

I'm growing a red iceberg again this year even though I was a bit disappointed as the 'red' is only on the outside, but tasted good - can't remember the name - sorry!

Stay with it someone will answer your question with something more relevant! Personally I quite like good old corn salad for flavour but very subjective is our taste!

Westi

[pumpkinworm]

Welcome Pumpkinworm!

I'm growing a red iceberg again this year even though I was a bit disappointed as the 'red' is only on the outside, but tasted good - can't remember the name - sorry!

Stay with it someone will answer your question with something more relevant! Personally I quite like good old corn salad for flavour but very subjective is our taste!

Westi

Thank you westi I'll look out for a variety of red iceberg lettuce

[Primrose]

I always like to include some curly endive in my salad leaf selection. It's incredibly hardy and seems to be quite slug resistant too.

[John]

Hello PW
A lot depends on what sort of lettuce you prefer. For a crsipy cos type one of the best varieties has to be 'Little Gem'. which is widely available. If you want lettuce leaves then I would recommend the cut-and-come-again types. These come in all sizes and colours - the mixed seed packets are probably the best. In a mixture the plants do not all mature at the same time also a c-a-c-a lettuce can be cut and allowed to regrow perhaps three times.

John

[FelixLeiter]

My particular favourite is Tonale, an Ice Queen type. This sort of lettuce is popular on the Continent but hardly known here; rather like a crisphead in many ways but with an open habit, more like an endive in appearance (me, I find endive too bitter and tough). Very robust and easy to grow. It's available from Kings.

[alan refail]

Hi PW

As others have said, it really does depend on what sort of lettuce you are looking for: crisphead, cos, iceberg, soft-leaved, heading, loose-leaf, yellow, green, red, variegated. I try to grow as many variations on the theme as I can fit in. I prefer variety. This year I am trying this mixture from http://www.realseeds.co.uk/lettuce.html
I have some sown already in the polytunnel and they are coming through an exciting mix as promised.

lettuces.PNG (280.38 KiB) Viewed 7892 times

[Primrose]

The Mortons Secret Mix looks interesting because i think the secret to enjoying salads is to have a wide variety of colours and textures. Also because different varieties will grow in slightly different ways you have a better chance of cutting and coming again and maintaing supplies over a longer period.

Incidentally how many people go on picking/eating their lettuces once they've bolted? I often do if supplies are running low and find the leaves still provide a reasonable salad.

[Johnboy]

Hi Primrose,
I have always found that lettuces that have bolted have a tendency to be rather on the bitter side and although some folk seem to like this I prefer not to use anything from one that has bolted.
I find that to grow then in a succession and plant as I pull and have about four small patches growing at the same time.
I also have a salad table which is roughly 6ft x 4ft 1.5 ft off the ground protected and close to the house planted with Lollo Rossa and Lollo Bionda and if I need lettuce for a sandwich lunchtime I simply pull a few leaves. I also have salad onions growing round the margins which is the equivelant to a 20ft row and quite adequate for my needs.
I used to market 40 different varieties of lettuce and should anybody want a copy of that list please feel free to PM me.
I have no doubts that some of them would be hard to get now as the list is over 10 years old but still mainly valid.
JB.

[Colin Miles]

Hi Johnboy - yes I agree about bitter-tasting bolted lettuce. As a matter of interest to get succession how often do you sow and how many? I invariably get it wrong and have too many and too few.

[Johnboy]

Hi Colin,
I agree that it is difficult to get it right but when we were growing to feed the mail order, retail and commercial growers it was very easy. What I do now is around four sowings and with lettuces like Little Leprachaun and Warpath and the other smaller Cos types I can get three plantings from the same sowing. They mature so fast that those still in the module from the same sowing albeit a little root bound romp away. I no longer grow any large lettuces and certainly not Little Gem which I find far too bitter for my taste. My policy now is to plant one as you pull one. With the salad table two sowings covers the year with Lollo Rossa and Lolla Bionda as with these I just keep on taking leaves and they produce masses and sow a second batch in early June (ish) serves me right up to the autumn.
JB.

[Colin Miles]

Thanks Johnboy.

[alan refail]

IMG_1318 (640x480).jpg (273.54 KiB) Viewed 7692 times

These are two of the three trays of the mixed lettuce I sowed on 10 February. Almost ready for planting out.
I am impressed with the variety of colour and shape.

[Geoff]

Lettuce posts nearly as common as grow light surveys!
Must remember all this for the Autumn when I am planning overwintering, I've put them down for week 36 (2nd in September) at the moment.
I'm impressed your mixture yields different colours at the same size, I usually find red ones are a lot slower than green ones. Have you ever found a significant difference between white seeded and brown seeded varieties?

[alan refail]

IMG_1335 (640x480).jpg (308.46 KiB) Viewed 7574 times

OK, I know, yet another picture of lettuce, but I do think they're rather attractive.