Colorful variety from the bed to the plate
Pick salad is particularly appealing not only because of its particularly delicate taste, but also because of its visual advantages. With red and green leaves in jagged, panicle-like or oak-like shape, pick salad can be used as an elegant garnish for exquisite dishes. Because the individual sorts can also be grown mixed without problems, a varied look can be created in the bed or balcony box.
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Different types of seeds for the summer and autumn harvest
When choosing the seeds, you should not only pay attention to freshness and germinability, but also to the recommended time for cultivation. After a pre-culture in the room, early varieties can be planted outdoors under fleece from around mid-May and harvested from June. Later varieties, on the other hand, should only be taken outdoors in June and July
sown and should be harvested from August to October, as otherwise they tend to shoot up when grown earlier.Let the strong heart shoots stand when harvesting
Picked salads do not form heads and can practically be harvested leaf by leaf. However, they usually have central heart shoots or heart leaves on which the lateral leaves are formed. Numerous varieties can therefore be harvested several times if only the side leaves are carefully cut off or plucked off:
- Oak leaf
- Venetian brown
- Australian yellow
But be vigilant if the lettuce should go into a blooming phase. Then harvest the entire plant in good time, as a flower makes the leaves taste bitter.
Beware of night frosts
Not only in spring do the young plants need to be protected from night frosts with a fleece. In the open air and on the balcony, the different sorts of the lettuce must not be exposed to temperatures well below zero degrees Celsius, even in autumn and early winter. Otherwise, harvest all of the remaining lettuce leaves in good time, as these, with their delicate leaf structure, are severely affected by frost.
Tips & Tricks
On the balcony in particular, the risk of excessive sunlight for the lettuce is very high. Therefore, you should protect lettuce from the balcony in August with a parasol or special shade nets from excessive heat.
