Lettuce: Tips for planting, harvesting & choosing a variety

We give tips for planting and harvesting salad and present the best salad locations. We also explain how to properly care for lettuce.

Salad is not missing neither in the garden nor on the balcony. Because he is undemanding, easy to care and can grow almost everywhere. This makes it a good culture for beginners in the garden. In this article, you'll learn everything you need to know to make sure you can't go wrong when growing lettuce. We reveal everything you need to know about the origin, different varieties, planting, care and harvesting of lettuce.

Lettuce: origin and properties

The term "lettuce" is not a botanical term and does not mean only that

one variety or species. Rather, it is a collective term for different vegetable plants, which are usually eaten. Incidentally, the word "salad" comes from the Latin and means "salted". This suggests that salads were appreciated early and partly prepared. Because the world of salad is so diverse, it is difficult to get to the bottom of the origin. The various salads come from different parts of the world. For example, the lettuce dates from the Mediterranean, while the iceberg salad comes from the USA.

Just like the origin, the growth forms of lettuce are also different. When you think of lettuce, you usually have an image of crisp, green leaves or a closed, green head of lettuce in mind. There is still much more than just the green salad head. Lettuce can also be red, brownish, yellow, or variegated. The shapes of the individual types of lettuce also vary greatly. For example, remember only on crimped leaves, filigree feline salad or red, solid radicchio.

Salad forms and varieties

Botanically, lettuce can be roughly divided into the lettuce group (Lactuca), the Zichorien Group (Cichorium) and salads without a group. Below we give you a brief overview of the individual salads of the three groups. Information about the individual salad forms and many variety suggestions can be found here in our types of lettuce-Special items.

Buy salad plants: You should pay attention

You can find lettuce plants in hardware stores, garden centers, nurseries, at the weekly market or online retailers. When buying, you should pay attention to a few points so that you are not disappointed by the plants you have bought. When choosing, pay attention to the right shape and type of lettuce, because the individual lettuce shapes not only vary Strong in the appearance and taste, but also in your claims regarding the timing, location and Care. You should also make sure that you only buy plants that make a fit and vital impression on you. This also means that the little plants do not have any damaged plant parts and are free from pests, signs of damage and diseases. Smells the root balls foul and crushy, you should better make the fingers of these plants.

Overview: What should you pay attention to the salad plant?

• Choice of salad form and variety
• Vital, fit plants
• No canceled leaves or stems
• Disease and pest free
• No foul root bales

plant lettuce

Building salad in your own bed is funky. If you don't limit yourself to just one type of lettuce, with clever cultivation planning you can harvest and enjoy your own lettuce almost all year round. Salads love a sunny to half shady location with a relaxed, humus-rich floor. A detailed guide to planting lettuce we have prepared for you here.

Caring for lettuce: the right watering and fertilizing

If the right location has been chosen and the salad has been properly planted, he grows almost as itself and requires only a little donation and care. You should still pay special attention to watering your salad. It is important to water every day, especially on hot days and in midsummer.

Before planting the lettuce, we recommend that you do a basic fertilization of the soil. So the soil is perfectly prepared for the lettuce and contains all the plant nutrients that are important for growth. Compost or a fertilizer with an organic long-term effect are ideal for basic fertilization. Our Plantura organic universal fertilizer consists to a large extent of organic material from which the nutrients are slowly and gently released to the plant. So you do not need to fertilize your salad after the basic fertilization.

Another important care measure is regular hacking and the accumulation of the earth around the salads. The hoeing stimulates the mineralization of the soil and water can penetrate the soil better. This measure also removes unwanted weeds at the same time.

notice: Unfortunately, young lettuce is at the top of the menu for snails. Therefore, on wet days, you should scan the bed for snails daily or fight it best on an ecological way.

Tips as you Fight snails with home remedies can be found here.

At a glance: care for lettuce properly

• Water regularly
• Basic fertilization before planting
• Don't fertilize after that
• Chop and pile up regularly
• Collect or fight snails

multiply lettuce

Lettuce itself can be propagated by seeds. However, the seed production is very time-consuming due to the small seeds and requires a lot of finesse. A prerequisite for obtaining seeds is that the lettuce plants are flowering. In addition, some lettuce plants may not be harvested, but remain on the bed. For a successful propagation you need about eight to ten plants. Select the most powerful and healthiest specimens and mark them with a rod. Don't just take the seeds of lettuce, which are the first to shoot. Otherwise you will unintentionally select lettuce that shoots early for your offspring.

As soon as the lettuces form buds, you should tie them to the marker sticks to support them. In addition, foul, wilting and muddy leaves can be removed at the bottom of the salad. If the flowers start to wither, special caution is required, because the tiny small salad names can now be easily washed out of the rain. Seeds are ready for harvest 12 to 24 days after flowering.

tip: As a test for seed maturity, you can gently rub ripening seed pods between your thumb and forefinger. The seed is sufficiently ripe when the seed capsule decays and the seeds are between the fingers.

Best seed is harvested from the centrally maturing buds at the top of the main stem. The easiest way to harvest the seeds is to hold the bud sites over a container and gently tap into it. The harvested seeds are then dried in a fabric bag and then purified. The seed can now be labeled and, if stored in a cool, dry place, will germinate for up to three years.

At a glance: multiply lettuce

• Select and mark 8-10 lettuce plants
• let it bloom
• support inflorescence
• Fouling, removing heritage leaves
• Seeds are ready 12-24 days after flowering
• Tap seeds into a bowl
• Dry in a cloth bag
• Clean seed
• Label
• Store cool and dry

harvest lettuce

The different forms of lettuce mean different harvest times. There are typical salads that are ready to harvest in spring, summer or autumn. When harvesting, you can decide whether you want to harvest the lettuce whole or just take individual leaves. If you harvest your lettuce as a pick or cut lettuce, you have the advantage of being able to harvest only as much as you need. The lettuce keeps growing back. A detailed guide to Harvesting lettuce you'll find here.

Store lettuce and keep it fresh

Salad tastes harvesting best and is not long durable in most cases. As a rule of thumb, the firmer the leaves, the longer the lettuce will keep. With a few tricks, you can still give the fast perishable salad a longer life.

At a glance: store salad and keep fresh

• Remove a leaves
• Store in the vegetable roof of the refrigerator
• Do not store with other fruit or tomatoes
• Take in a damp tea towel
• Do not freeze