This is Little Gem, such a crispy and beautiful salad.

Do you know what I long for the most in the beginning of the year? Newly harvested lettuce! I start dreaming about next year’s harvest already when we’re still munching on the leaves from last year.

Home-grown lettuce is insanely good. It’s like green, crispy candy. My children grow several different varieties in their own garden beds just for fun. And I’m so happy to have a long life of growing vegetables in front of me where I can explore as many different varieties as I can.

My favorite lettuce is...

There’s a whole pallet collar with tiny Little Gem and its red sister Intred in my polytunnel, hopefully surviving the cold weather. If they do then I’ll be able to harvest them early next spring.

Many choices

I’ve written several posts about how I grow my lettuce and which varieties I like best. My choices vary depending on the season and I always consider the inherent qualities of each type. Which ones can live through colder temperatures? Which ones thrive in heat? Some of them might grow very quickly and others take more time. I have a few tips in this post: Growing lettuce: which lettuce should you pick?

The seed bags contain a large number of seeds and it can seem unnecessary to buy several different kinds. But I think that the variation is so important for us who eat a lot of vegetables from our own gardens. I harvest lettuce from March until December. So of course I won’t want to eat the same kind of lettuce every day!   

Check out my YouTube channel for more lettuce inspiration:
Overwintering lettuce in the poly tunnel
Lettuce from winter sowings
Lamb’s lettuce – Hardy leaves for winter gardens

Red varieties

I think I’ll grow more red lettuce next year. I’ve noticed that snails generally avoid my red vegetables and plants. Growing more red lettuce might keep them at bay. They enjoyed my green lettuce just a little bit too much last year… Unfortunately, one of my children refuses to eat red lettuce. I hope he changes his mind until next year!

Do you have a favorite type of lettuce?
/Sara Bäckmo