Lettuce

-
Easy to grow, healthy and delicious. Lettuces are one of my favourite allotment staples. And the truth is that you simply cannot find a proper lettuce in British supermarkets, what they sell is water packed in lettuce form. Be aware that vitamins, minerals and all things that make lettuce healthy have flavour, so if it tastes like nothing, it is probably nothing from a nutritional point of view.

Considering how much I like to eat salad, I could have a allotment only to grow it. The better news is that I do not have too, I can also grow other goodies.

Some lettuce are of the type "cut and come again" (that means you can cut the outside leaves and the plant keeps on growing), others are meant to be harvested whole. The latter are the perfect crop for successional sowing, in order to keep a constant supply. Because they germinate so quickly, you can also cut the baby leaves instead of waiting the long weeks to full maturity. Baby leaves are all the rage among people who think salad is not an important part of the meal, but a form of table decoration.

Lettuce (Lactuta sativa)

Soil
does not dry out nor waterlogs
Aspect
full sun or a bit of shade
Row spacing
30 cm
Plant spacing
15 cm
Germination
1 week
Time to maturity
12 weeks
Sow outside
April-August
Sow undercover
March
Plant outside
April-August
Harvest
June-November
Store
only for a short time in the refrigerator, cut as required
Pests/diseases
slugs and snails, also birds can be a problem.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Addi vs. Knit Pro: a review

-
The short version of this post: The difference between Addi and KnitPro is relatively small, so you'll be happy with which ever you buy. I personally prefer Addi Lace. KnitPro Synfonie and Nova being second best, in my opinion. Do not buy KnitPro cubics. Basic Addi have rounded tips that make knitting (knit and purl) easier and faster, but knitting lace (making increases and decreases) a lot more difficult. So I do not recommend them (even though I use these needle the most often), because sharper tips are simply more versatile. Metal vs. wood or bamboo: metal has less friction, thus knitting with this is faster and more pleasant. But, for the same reason, stitches are more prone to drop off metal needles. I'd recommend wood for beginners, metal for more experienced knitters. Metal needles are less prone to breaking. Long story told short, I own both a set of Knit Pro interchangeable Symfonie wood needles and the Basic set of Addi interchangeable metal needles. I also...
Read more

Converting patterns for Portuguese-style knitting: a tutorial, part 1

-
A few years ago I wrote a post about converting increases and decreases from German or English-style knitting to Portuguese-style knitting. Do you need to do that? Not really, there is nothing to stop you from just going ahead and knit a pattern exactly as it's written. Then, why would you want to do that? Because most patterns written for German or English-style knitting include as much knit stitches and as little purl stitches as possible, since the former are much easier to work than the latter when you keep your yarn behind the needles. On the other hand, when working in Portuguese-style, you keep your yarn in front of the needles and thus you would like to purl as much as possible. The best example of this is, of course, garter stitch, as used in the microplastic ban pattern . There are two ways of converting this pattern to Portuguese-style: Straight-forward conversion: use the stitch dictionary and invert the order of stitches . Then, Increase row: k2, yo, knit to end. D...
Read more

Kissing fish

-
Image
I have already written quite a few posts on socks and even a few on sock heels in particular. And this is another one to add to the list. The Fish Lips Kiss Heel by Sox Therapist is fast becoming the most popular patterns on Ravelry. This is not a standard pattern but rather a (very long) full tutorial on how to knit almost any sock integrating this heel including extra advice on making sure the sock fits perfectly. Costing only a little bit more than $1 USD, it is not free but a real bargain. What is the Fish Lips Kiss Heel? You may want to know before spending your money on a pattern you may very well dislike. It is basically a short-row heel method that uses a very particular type of stitch replacing the traditional wraps-and-turns. The author of this pattern calls them twin stitches and there are two of them (or more exactly there are two ways of working the same twin stitch). The knit twin stitch (a twin stitch worked on the right side): and the purl twin stitch (a...
Read more