Lamb's lettuce: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar
How do you sow lamb’s lettuce outdoors?
Choose a variety suited to your climate and intended harvest. In a temperate climate, late summer and early autumn are common sowing periods, once excessive heat has eased. Prepare a fine, weed-free surface in well-drained soil and avoid sowing into waterlogged ground. Follow the seed packet for timing and spacing.
Sow thinly in shallow drills about 1 cm deep, with roughly 15–20 cm between rows. Cover lightly, firm gently and water with a fine spray. Keep the seedbed moist until germination without saturating it; light shade can help if the soil dries in the heat. Once the plants are established, thin if needed to the spacing recommended for the variety. You can stagger small sowings when conditions allow. Choose a hardy variety for winter crops and protect against severe cold when necessary.
How to care for this plant
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Thin seedlings
If seedlings crowd each other, thin those intended to form large clumps using the spacing for your variety. Keep a denser stand for a quick baby-leaf harvest. In a module, distinguish this selection from final garden spacing.
How do you harvest lamb’s lettuce?
Harvest when the rosettes are well developed and the leaves are tender, according to the variety and growing conditions. Autumn sowings often provide autumn or winter crops, with later sowings sometimes ready in spring. Check the size of the whole rosette before picking. Use a clean knife to cut at the base, just above the crown, without pulling up neighbouring plants.
Regrowth is sometimes possible if the growing point remains intact, but leaving the roots in the ground does not guarantee continuous harvests. Pick only what you need and use it soon, as lamb’s lettuce keeps poorly. Keep it in the fridge for short storage, remove damaged leaves and wash the sound leaves carefully before use to remove soil trapped in the rosette. Do not rely on a guaranteed one-week shelf life.
Handle the rosettes without crushing them and do not pack them tightly into your basket. Soil easily lodges between the leaf bases: gently open the rosettes as you wash them and change the water if it remains sandy. Drain without rubbing the delicate leaves, and prepare only the quantity needed for your meal.
Lamb's lettuce
- Type : Vegetables
- Subtype : Leafy vegetables
- Botanical Family : Valerianaceae
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