Looseleaf Lettuce
Lactuca sativa var. crispa
No head to wait for. Cut it three times from one sowing and start eating in a month.
Fastest and most forgiving
Looseleaf types - Black Seeded Simpson, Salad Bowl, Oakleaf, Red Sails - form no head, so there is nothing to wait for and nothing to go wrong inside. Baby leaves in three to four weeks, full plants in six.
Cut and come again
Shear the whole stand an inch above the crown and it regrows for a second and usually a third cutting. This is the highest-yielding way to grow salad in a small space, and it means one sowing produces over six or eight weeks rather than all at once.
Sow densely for baby leaf
Broadcast or sow thickly in a band and shear at four inches for salad mix. For full-sized plants, thin to six or eight inches. Seed needs light - barely cover it.
Some heat tolerance, but it still bolts
More forgiving than butterhead and less so than romaine. It will bolt in real heat, turning bitter and milky. The advantage is that a fresh sowing is only a month from eating, so succession every two weeks is easy.
Red varieties are hardier and slower
Red and bronze looseleaf types generally bolt a little later, tolerate cold better, and hold colour best in cool bright weather. They are also slightly more bitter.
Water and feed for speed
Fast growth is what makes lettuce tender. Consistent water, an inch or more a week, and light nitrogen after each cutting to push the regrowth.
Pests
Slugs, aphids and rabbits. Because there is no dense heart, aphids are much easier to wash out than in a head lettuce - a genuine practical advantage.
Harvest and storage
Pick outer leaves as needed or shear the stand. Morning harvest, cold water, spin dry. Keeps five to seven days in the fridge.
- Days to harvest
- 30-45
- Spacing
- 4-8 in
- Row spacing
- 12 in
- Sun
- Full to part shade
- pH
- 6.0-7.0
- Cuttings
- 2-3 per sowing
- Habit
- No head
- Storage
- 5-7 days