Permapotes

Lamb's lettuce

Lamb's lettuce: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar

Lamb’s lettuce is a leafy vegetable valued for its small, tender rosettes and mild flavour. It is also called corn salad, although it is not a cereal. Its soft texture and gentle taste give it a different character from very crisp lettuces or strongly peppery leaves. In a vegetable garden, it stays low and forms small green clusters close to the soil surface rather than large, tightly packed heads.

Its familiar botanical name is Valerianella locusta; some current classifications also use Valeriana locusta. It belongs to the Caprifoliaceae family, not the lettuce family. The word salad describes its culinary use rather than a close botanical relationship with lettuce. It is also distinct from common valerian, which is another species despite the similarity between their names.

The leaves emerge from the base and form a rosette. They are simple, usually elongated or spoon-shaped, with differences in width and shade between varieties. Some rosettes are more open, while others are compact. This arrangement gives each plant the appearance of a small collection of joined leaves instead of a large, firm head like that of a heading lettuce. The whole outline is part of its appeal on the plate.

Lamb’s lettuce has a short life cycle, usually annual, which can extend across winter. When flowering begins, upright, branched stems rise above the rosette with tiny pale blue to whitish flowers. The plant’s shape then changes noticeably. Seed formation is part of its reproductive cycle. The possibility of new self-sown seedlings does not mean that an individual plant is a perennial.

Varieties differ in seed size, leaf dimensions, rosette compactness and seasonal behaviour. Large-seeded forms are often associated with larger leaves and quick growth. Small-seeded selections include many varieties intended for winter. These categories do not guarantee identical cold tolerance, however. The particular variety and local conditions remain important, rather than seed size acting as a complete guide on its own.

In the kitchen, lamb’s lettuce is mainly eaten raw, alone or in mixtures of leaves. Its flavour accompanies eggs, beetroot, walnuts and potatoes. The rosettes bring a tender texture to salads and garnishes. Its garden value also includes its place among cool-season vegetables, when summer salad leaves are not always available.

Lamb's lettuce
Lamb's lettuce
Characteristics
  • Lifecycle : Annual
  • Exposure : Partial Shade
  • Frost Hardiness : Frost Resistant
  • Cultivation Difficulty : Medium
  • Mature height : 20 cm
Sowing & Planting
  • Greenhouse crops : Unheated greenhouse
  • Greenhouse Growing : Not Required
  • Sowing Depth : 0.5 cm
  • Plant Spacing : 8 cm
  • Row Spacing : 15 cm
Maintenance
  • Maintenance : Low
  • Water Requirements : Moderate
Other characteristics
  • Soil Type : Humus-rich
  • Soil pH Preference : Neutral
  • Pest Sensitivity : Low
  • Disease Sensitivity : Moderate
  • Weed Sensitivity : Moderate
  • Pollination : Insect-pollinated
  • Propagation : Sowing