Growing lettuce couldn’t be easier. Most varieties grow fast from seed, are relatively trouble free and the dark green leaves of lettuce are a good source of beta-carotene and Vitamin A. They are also a good crop to get the children interested in gardening. Here is a selection of lettuce varieties you might want to try.
Butterhead varieties
Cassandra
A superb quality, pale green butterhead of excellent flavour, with well-filled voluminous hearts. Lettuce Cassandra is resistant to most races of downy mildew and Lettuce Mosaic Virus. Ideal for growing all year round, especially summer and autumn outdoors. Harvest: 10-12 weeks from sowing. Very easy to grow.
Tom Thumb
The smallest lettuce. A compact, solid butterhead type with deliciously soft leaves just right for small families or restricted space. Lettuce Butterhead Tom Thumb can be grown as close as 15cm (6in.) apart and makes a useful early crop in a cold frame or cloches. Very fast growing, from an early spring Butterhead Tom Thumb will be the first variety to harvest. Harvest: 65 Days from sowing. Very easy to grow.
All the Year Round
Medium heads with solid, crisp hearts. Lettuce All The Year Round is very hardy, reliable and dry weather tolerant. Ideal for successional and autumn sowing. Harvest: 72 Days (Summer-Autumn & Spring) from sowing. Very easy to grow.
Arctic King
A fine lettuce known for its exceptional cold resistance and bred solely for autumn sowings. Lettuce Arctic King is a large lettuce, light green in colour, with tasty, crinkled leaves. Very easy to grow. Harvest: Spring.
Buttercrunch
Delicious small, compact, dark green heads with a crisp, crunchy, sweet flavour and buttery central heart. Lettuce Buttercrunch is very slow to bolt and will stand well over a long period. Harvest: 65 Days from sowing. Very easy to grow.
Yugoslavian Red
An attractive, large, semi hearting, reddish tinged ‘butterhead’. When cut in half, Lettuce Yugoslavian Red exposes a solid bright green-yellow centre with a mild flavour. Lettuce Yugoslavian Red makes an eye-catching addition to the kitchen garden, flower border and salad bowl. Harvest: Summer-Autumn.
Lettuce Mixes
Colour Shades Mix
A tantalising mixture of bronze and red shades to add colour, texture and taste to your salad bowl and side garnishes. Enjoy Lettuce Colour Shades Mixed as salad leaf and full heart crops all summer without worry, as this mix is particularly resistant to bolting. Endless supply of loose-leaf lettuce in red shades. Seeds are in the RHS Vegetable Collection. Harvest: June to October. Very easy to grow.
Continental Looseleaf Lettuce
Salad Bowl
All-American Gold Medal winner. Salad Bowl Lettuce is large, medium-green, slow bolting, non-heading and decidedly tender. Don’t pull the whole plants – be selective – go down the row choosing only the largest, tenderest leaves. This way Salad Bowl Lettuce will continue to replace itself the whole season. Harvest: Summer-Autumn. Very easy to grow.
Lollo Rossa
An excellently flavoured Italian lettuce of the type used in salads and also in many other dishes as a tasty garnish. Lettuce Continental Looseleaf Lollo Rossa is compact, non hearting with a rosette of finely frilled leaves with deep red edge. Lollo Rossa is very easy to grow and attractive in gardens, tubs, containers etc and in the salad. Harvest: 48 Days (Summer-Autumn & Spring) from sowing. Very easy to grow.
Romaine/Cos
Little Gem
Sweet, crisp flavour. Lettuce Little Gem Pearl is a special selection of the ever-popular Cos variety. Seeds are in the RHS Vegetable Collection. Compact plants produce small, sweet, crisp hearts of outstanding flavour. Perfect for the garden or growing in containers. Harvest: June to October. Very easy to grow.
Chartwell
The tastiest of all the Romaine lettuces we have ever trialled. Lettuce Chartwell is renowned for its crunchy texture and the sweetest flavour. Excellent downy mildew resistance, with good bolting tolerance and heart quality during hotter summer conditions. Romaine Lettuce Chartwell is ideal for spring and summer sowings. Suitable for ‘cut and come again’, baby leaf or mature hearts. Harvest: June to October. Days to full maturity: 75 days. Very easy to grow.
Sonette
Crunchy, dense, uniformly shaped hearts of excellent quality and flavour. Iceberg Lettuce Sonette is recommended for sowings from spring and throughout the summer as it has excellent mildew resistance. Heads of Iceberg Lettuce Sonette stand well in hot weather and will keep for 2 weeks in the refrigerator after cutting. Harvest: June to October (80 days). Very easy to grow.
Winter Gem
A specially bred Little Gem Cos for sowing from September to January and for growing in a unheated greenhouse or in a cold frame for overwinter production (not suitable for growing outdoors). Lettuce Winter Gem has delicious small, crunchy, sweet hearts equal in taste to Little Gem, will be ready to harvest from January onwards, for use in winter salads. Harvest: January to May.