Leaf And Head Lettuce - Types And Varieties, Cultivation Techniques

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Colorful bouquet of salads

Salad bed

Salad is one of the most ancient vegetable crops. It is considered a reliable fact that it was grown in ancient Egypt, and in ancient Greece and in ancient Rome. His homeland is the Mediterranean. Today, lettuce is grown almost everywhere in Eurasia and North America. In Russia it has been cultivated since the XXVII century.

Lettuce leaves are eaten mostly fresh, and although they do not improve the taste of dishes, they are quite bland, undoubtedly, decorate their appearance and seriously increase their nutritional value. Lettuce leaves are a source of almost all vitamins known in plants: B1, B2, C, P, PP, K, E, folic acid, carotene (provitamin A). And although their content is small, thanks to such a complete vitamin complex, lettuce leaves actively enhance digestion and metabolism in the human body.

The salad has a pronounced hematopoietic, anti-cancer, analgesic, hypnotic and diuretic effect. Regular consumption of lettuce reduces headaches associated with vegetative-vascular dystonia, relieves increased nervous excitability, and helps with insomnia. The salad is also useful for people suffering from thyroid diseases and diabetes mellitus.

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We have been growing lettuce on our site for a long time, we started with varieties such as Moscow Greenhouse, Berlin Yellow, Festivalny, there were other varieties, but recently varieties with very beautiful carved, corrugated leaves, more resistant to flowering, and fruitful, have appeared. Among them, we gave preference to leafy and head varieties.

Odessa kucheryavets salad

Lettuce forms a powerful rosette of leaves, does not form a head of cabbage. Its main advantage is early maturity: it is ready to be eaten within 25-40 days after sowing. Lettuce is varied in the shape and color of the leaves: in addition to the usual green and pale green flowers, some varieties are characterized by pinkish and even burgundy shades. Thanks to its bright color, as well as the beautiful shape of the leaves, the salad is also very decorative.

Among the old, proven varieties of lettuce, the most famous is "Azart". Its advantages are a short growing season, delicate, semi-crunchy texture of leaves, high yield. But its disadvantage is the rapid formation of an arrow and a rather short shelf life for food. Another old variety of Russian selection - "Ballet" is also distinguished by high yield, delicate, oily consistency of leaf blades and excellent appearance. But its main advantage is the length of the economic period (it does not coarse for a long time) and resistance to low temperatures. While foreign varieties in cold weather in the open field slowly grow, get sick, turn yellow, "Ballet" is always juicy and beautiful, so I recommend all gardeners to have it on their site. The disadvantage of this variety is that the late maturity is easily compensated for by growing through seedlings.

Salad Azart

Also, the "Northern Blush" salad variety with a pinkish-burgundy shade of corrugated leaves at the tips of the leaves, which do not coarse for a long time, retaining the tenderness and fragility of their consistency, has high decorative qualities. However, the quality of the leaves of this variety and the saturation of their color strongly depend on the conditions of their cultivation: in a greenhouse and in partial shade, the leaves come out more tender, oily with a slightly pinkish tint on a light green background, which is indeed very similar to a blush. But in a cooler and sunnier place, Northern Blush yields a bright burgundy color with tougher, coarser leaves. The variety of leaf lettuce "Oak leaf" with leaves that really resemble oak leaves is also original. However, its yield is low, almost two times lower than that of such varieties as "Ballet" and "Azart".

In iceberg lettuce large undivided leaves. At first, it forms a rosette, and already 45-60 days after sowing - small rounded formations, vaguely similar to cabbage heads. The yield of head lettuce is higher than that of leaf lettuce.

From the cabbage varieties, one can distinguish the Dutch variety "Ice Queen", which means "Ice Queen" - its carved leaves, really captured by the frost, fold into the shape of a fancy rose. Another cabbage variety - "Odessa Kucheryavets" - also looks very impressive on the garden bed thanks to the many light green leaves with corrugated edges. This variety is medium late. The period from full germination to economic shelf life is 68-75 days. The variety is relatively resistant to flowering. Leaves do not coarse for a long time. But the variety of head lettuce "Libuza" is distinguished by its early maturity. Its leaves are dark green, elliptical, smooth at the edges and crunchy in taste. The variety has a high yield.

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Salad cultivation techniques

Ice Queen lettuce

Lettuce is a cold-resistant plant, its seeds begin to germinate at 2 … 5 ° С, and plants can withstand frosts down to -6 ° С.

With proper care, lettuce succeeds on all types of soil. For early production, lettuce can be grown through seedlings. Seeds, starting from mid-April, are sown directly into the ground of a warmed greenhouse in rows at a distance of 5-6 cm. You can sow seeds before winter, it is better when stable frosts begin, since they can rise in warm winter. Sowing before winter makes it possible to get the first greens guaranteed, even if you forget to sow the salad on time in spring. By the way, it is possible to get your own seeds from the most early ripening leafy varieties, especially in warm summer.

We plant the seedlings in a permanent place after the development of 2-3 true leaves or 30-40 days after germination. When planting seedlings, it is important that the root collar does not fall below the soil level. Strong thickening of plants retards their growth and leads to flowering, therefore, the distance between plants in a row is left for early leafy varieties - 15 cm, for head and late leafy varieties - 30-35 cm. It is best to arrange plants in a row in a checkerboard pattern, this makes it more rational use the area of the site. And remember that the readiness to eat salad grown in the open field can be significantly accelerated by covering the garden with the lightest covering material, for example, lutrasil.

Libuza salad

A salad grown under lutrasil or in a greenhouse always succeeds tender, crisp, without bitterness.

Since it is more pleasant to eat young, more delicate lettuce leaves, I recommend organizing a "green conveyor" in the supply of lettuce: sowing lettuce should be sown at short intervals (after 10-14 days). This will ensure a constant replacement of plants with younger ones.

Plant care consists of weeding, feeding and watering. Usually one or two weeding is carried out, two loosening. Regular watering is recommended in dry weather. Good moisture availability will have a beneficial effect on high growth rates and crop quality. It is better to water in the morning so that the leaves have time to dry in the evening, as plants that remain wet all night are more susceptible to disease.

Preparing for the new season, do not forget to sow lettuce seeds this fall before winter. And then next spring you will feast on juicy early salad leaves.