Lettuce frustration

**annie8** · 04-05-2019, 08:37 AM

Have you tried little gem? I grew it last year and found it about the right size for one meal.

**Snoop Puss** · 04-05-2019, 09:13 AM

I've never grown Parris Island Cos. Had to look it up. Looks to be quite a large lettuce. If you like that, though, you'd probably like Little Gem, as annie suggests.

But if you've already got Parris Island and like them, you could probably grow them as cut-and-come-again type lettuce just by growing them really close together and cutting them at a very early stage.

Edited to add: sorry, forgot to say that a greenhouse is probably too hot for most lettuce at this time of year. How about a pot of cut-and-come-again lettuce near the kitchen. Perfect for a little snip for sandwiches. Start off another pot shortly after the first lot have germinated and then another and so on to keep you in salad leaves all summer.

**Scarlet** · 04-05-2019, 11:55 AM

I love Great Lakes...I just pick off the outer leaves and leave the plant to grow on.
Maybe just buy a pack of seed for salad leaves?

I'm not home at the moment - but this is from a mixed pack.
I just harvest a couple of leaves at a time rather than pick a whole lettuce.
Plenty of crunch

I start off in the greenhouse in a pot, then stagger transplant in bigger pots. Move out when they are near harvesting.

12April

Outside last week.

I don't like lettuce eaten from the GH as it's warm and limp

**Bluenowhere** · 04-05-2019, 12:41 PM

We grow red and green salad bowl lettuce, only outside not in greenhouse.

**annie8** · 04-05-2019, 01:28 PM

Yes agree I am always surprised at the fact that salad crops don’t really like heat so I have romaine, rocket and salad leaf growing outside at the moment and doing well. Don’t grow them in the greenhouse unless at early stage and earlier in the year.

**Dynamite** · 04-05-2019, 03:20 PM

Blimey, I can’t even get any lettuce to germinate. Supposed to be the easiest but not for me, far from it. Fail every year. It’s my favourite veg too!!!

Kind Regards.............Rob

**Scarlet** · 04-05-2019, 04:21 PM

I don't think the seed keeps very well. So I usually save my own or only use fresh bought seed and use the whole packet throughout the season.

**bramble** · 04-05-2019, 05:10 PM

Yes, ad Scarlet says...fresh seed every year.
Sow in modules , water the soil and cover with vermiculite.
Prick out plants separately when big enough to handle.
I grow mine in the shady part of the garden and an old stone sink.

**Bren In Pots** · 04-05-2019, 06:40 PM

Originally posted by Bluenowhere View Post

We grow red and green salad bowl lettuce, only outside not in greenhouse.

I grow those they're some of my favs

Over winter I grow 'all year round' and Arctic king in my GH the both seem to do well in cold icy temps.

**Penellype** · 04-05-2019, 06:49 PM

Originally posted by Lardman View Post

I just want a leaf or two of something crunchy to put on a sandwich now and then, why am I finding that so hard to achieve

Suggestions please for lettuce varieties to grow in the greenhouse which I can pick as loose leaf which don't behave like rice paper when eaten.

Do they do mini icebergs ? I'd struggle to use and entire tight head lettuce like great lakes before it went off. So far, Paris Island Cos is probably the closest I've found to what I'm after but it appears to germinate poorly and rapidly run to seed in the greenhouse.

Try Warpath https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/le...path/tt54423TM - mini iceberg lettuce, very tolerant of abuse, reliable, can be eaten as loose leaf or left to form small hearts. My favourite variety of lettuce by a long way.

To germinate lettuce, sprinkle the seeds on the surface of damp compost and put in a light place. The seeds need light to germinate. Keep moist and pot into modules or individual pots when they have 2 true leaves. Warpath can be grown in 4 inch pots on the windowsill or under grow lights (I do this over winter for instant access to lettuce) but it will grow perfectly well outside.

**Lardman** · 04-05-2019, 07:00 PM

I can't grow stuff like lettuce outside, it would be decimated before I'd finished watering it in. When I've grown little gem here they don't heart up at all and I'm left with limp outer leaves, not sure if I'm doing something wrong, the conditions aren't right for it or if the seeds I've had were mislabelled.

I've tried just about most of the loose leaf mixes but they're all leaf and no crunch, nice enough but not what I'm after. I've currently got black seeded simpson, lollo rossa , winter density and all year round on the go, growing and harvesting as per Charles Dowding and I'm getting about the right amount for leaves from a double 10ft row ... I just need more crunch.

**Penellype** · 04-05-2019, 07:19 PM

How soon before you eat them are you picking your lettuce? If I am not going to eat them straight away I put either the whole lettuce or individual leaves into a bowl of cold water until I am ready to eat them. This will crisp up any leaves that are starting to wilt, as long as it is a crispy variety to start with.

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