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Growing head lettuce outdoors seems difficult at first. With sufficient skill and the correct selection of varieties, you can get a harvest no worse than what professional farmers supply to stores.
Cabbage and semi-cabbage salads are close relatives of leaf lettuce. They differ, however, not only in appearance, but also in nutritional value and useful properties. Their leaves contain fiber, iron, protein, calcium and potassium. And in terms of the content of vitamins, they can give odds to many green crops, because they are a source of vitamins C, B1, B2, B6, B9 and beta-carotene.
Cabbage and half-cabbage salads can be of very different colors - from pale yellow-green to purple, brown and brown. Some varieties may have the usual green leaves and colored fringes around the edges. Their leaves are usually round, with smooth, jagged or corrugated edges. A variety of varieties will not leave anyone indifferent, but most often summer residents choose several proven options.
Popular varieties of cabbage and semi-cabbage salads
Most of the salad seeds offered in gardening shops are leafy, however, you can find both cabbage and semi-cabbage varieties if you wish. Their leaves can be crispy or oily, varying in taste, bitterness, color, yield and suitability for outdoor cultivation.
| Salad variety | Type of salad | Ripening period | Features of the variety |
|
Iceberg |
Kochanny | 75-90 days | Crispy, resistant to shooting, heads of cabbage weighing up to 600 g |
|
Eurydice |
Half-cabbage | 70-80 days | Crunchy, with wavy leaves, weight of an adult plant - up to 450 g |
|
Odessa kucheryavets |
Half-cabbage | 68-75 days | Crispy, with a loose fan-shaped rosette, the weight of an adult plant is up to 200 g |
|
May king |
Kochanny | 63-70 days | Crispy, fruitful, weight of an adult plant - up to 200 g |
|
Gingerbread man |
Kochanny | 55-75 days | Red leaves with white veins, weight of cabbages - up to 600 g |
|
Platinas |
Kochanny | 75-90 days | Crispy, resistant to stalking, weight of cabbages - up to 570 g |
|
Kucheryavets Semko |
Kochanny | 52 days | Semi-crunchy, with slightly wrinkled leaves, the weight of an adult plant is up to 300 g |
|
Petrovich |
Kochanny | 63-70 days | Crispy, with a dense head of cabbage, weight of an adult plant - up to 300 g |
|
Design |
Kochanny | 68-75 days | Bubbly, crispy, with a closed head of cabbage, weight of an adult plant - up to 600 g |
|
Umbrinas |
Kochanny | 75-90 days | Crunchy, resistant to stalking, lettuce aphids and downy mildew, weight of an adult plant - up to 750 g |
Iceberg is the only head salad that can be stored for up to 3 weeks.
How to grow a cabbage salad
Cabbage and semi-cabbage salads are good because they can be grown both in a complex way (through seedlings and under cover), and in a simple way (sowing in open ground).
Growing head lettuce through seedlings
Seedlings of head lettuce are sown for an early harvest.This is done in early or mid-March, using small (5-8 cm) pots or boxes as containers (for subsequent picking).
The salad is picky about the nutritional value of the soil, so you won't be able to get by with a ready-made, purchased mixture - you will need to add 1 share of humus, 1 - river sand and 1 - garden soil to it. After sowing the seeds, the containers with the salad are covered and left in a lighted place with a temperature not exceeding 18 ° C. After 48 hours, the seed containers can be transferred to a regular warm room. Seedlings appear within 7-10 days, depending on the variety, but they may be delayed.
Caring for seedlings of head lettuce comes down to watering and spraying the leaves with warm water. If you sowed the seeds densely, then you will have to dive them in the phase of the appearance of a pair of leaves. Pick out the strongest plants right away, and the weak ones can be grown or thrown away.
Planting of head lettuce into the ground is carried out when the seedlings reach a height of 8 cm, that is, they form 4-5 leaves. Usually this time falls on the end of April, but in summer, with long daylight hours, the seedlings may be ready even earlier.
Sowing head lettuce outdoors
Planting of head lettuce is also possible in a greenhouse, under a temporary shelter, or directly in open ground, since it is a cold-resistant crop that can easily tolerate frosts down to -5 ° C. Salad is demanding only for sunlight and soil type, but it can cope with a lack of heat.
To grow head lettuce from seeds, you need to choose the most illuminated and nutritious plot of land on your site. The fact is that in the shade or on poor land, most varieties simply do not form heads of cabbage, bypassing this stage of development, and will immediately proceed to setting the stem and flowering.
Lettuce crops grow best on light sandy and sandy loam soils, but they can also grow on loam.
Often, head salads are sown as a sealant for mixed plantings, but in this case they need to be combined with crops that do not shade the foliage, for example, strawberries, herbs, root vegetables. And if you sow the salad in a greenhouse or greenhouse, then the crop can be harvested a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.
Head salad care
Planting your plants is as easy as planting a head lettuce. If you have chosen the right place, waited for the end of return frosts and sowed seeds in fertile soil, then you will need to remember about the salad on the strength a couple of times a week.
If you sowed lettuce outdoors in April, cover it with agrofibre to protect it from possible cold snaps.
So, first of all, cabbage and half-cabbage salads need regular watering. When the soil dries up, they begin to shoot, and the greens can acquire bitterness, so do not forget to moisten the soil. You can water them both under the root and over the leaves, but it is advisable to carry out this procedure early in the morning or late in the evening, when direct sunlight does not fall on the salad.
Also, crops need to be thinned regularly so that they do not thicken, otherwise, instead of several strong and large heads of cabbage, you will get many weak and stunted bushes that have not been fully formed.
And finally, Iceberg salad, so beloved by everyone, and its head "congeners" are great for dressing, especially organic. As an additional food, you can use an infusion of cut grass, a 10% mullein solution, liquid diluted and infused chicken droppings or ash infusion. Salad crops are fed once every 2-3 weeks, and on fertile soils - once a month.
Cleaning and storing head lettuce
Harvesting of cabbage and half-cabbage lettuce is not tied to specific dates, this is done as the harvest ripens. For good keeping quality, the heads of cabbage are watered abundantly the day before, and then cut off, leaving a leg 1-1.5 cm long.
The plant that went into the arrow is not eaten and is immediately removed from the garden. It loses all nutritional value and taste and becomes bitter.
After harvesting, the heads of cabbage are stored in a cool place with medium humidity. They lie no more than 5-7 days, then wither and become tasteless. You can extend the storage of the salad by wrapping it in plastic wrap and putting it in the refrigerator, in the vegetable compartment.
Now that you know how to grow head lettuce, devote at least a small piece of land to this culture in your country house and enrich your diet with a healthy and tasty product.
Any climatic conditions are suitable for growing lettuce. It is important that the place for sowing the lettuce is sunny (otherwise nitrates_ will accumulate in the leaves and the soil is loosened to a great depth. When grown in early spring, only early lettuce varieties should be used, with later, summer varieties, respectively.
Salad varieties with photos and descriptions, reviews
Iceberg lettuce
A new fruitful variety of crispy head lettuce. From the moment of germination to technical ripeness, 75-90 days pass. This variety is intended for spring and summer cultivation. Resistant to shooting.
The heads of lettuce are large, dense, weighing 300-600 grams. The leaves are corrugated, with wavy edges, juicy, bubbly, crispy, keep fresh for a long time. The taste is high.
Salad Sandwich
Excellent leafy variety of early ripening lettuce. It is grown in open and protected ground. Lettuce leaves are light green, tender, crunchy, with a high content of vitamins and mineral salts.
Lettuce Lettuce Sandwich is ideal for fresh consumption, making sandwiches, salads, decorating dishes.
Eurydice salad
Mid-season, half-cabbage salad variety. Grown in open ground and film greenhouses. The rosette of leaves is medium in size, semi-raised, compact, about 35 cm high, about 33 cm in diameter. The leaf is large, dark green in color, bubbly, with a wavy edge, of a crunchy consistency. Possesses excellent taste. The mass of an adult plant is 450 g.
Yield - 4.3 kg / sq. m. Sowing seeds directly into the ground in April - May.
Firebird salad
An early ripe variety of lettuce, the harvest of which can be harvested within 45-50 days from the moment of emergence. The plant forms large rosettes of intense ruby red color, with delicate, crunchy leaves. Lettuce Leaves Firebird contain an increased amount of vitamins and mineral salts.
This variety of lettuce is suitable for year-round cultivation in open and protected ground throughout Russia.
Advantages of the variety: resistance to flowering, fast growth at any length of the day, excellent taste.
Odessa kucheryavets salad
Mid-season (68-75 days from germination to harvest), semi-cabbage type. The plant forms a loose medium-sized rosette, 24-32 cm in diameter, weighing up to 200 grams. The leaf is fan-shaped with a corrugated edge, crispy texture, excellent taste.
The Odessa kucheryavets is grown in open ground and film shelters. For continuous harvest from June to autumn, sowing in open ground is carried out from April to August. The seeding depth is 1-2 cm.
For seedlings, lettuce seeds are sown in March-April, plants are planted in May-June.
Yield: 2.7-5.0 kg / sq.m. The variety is resistant to flowering.
Leaf lettuce Grand
Early ripening variety of lettuce. It takes 45 days from germination to harvest. The plant forms a large, juicy, light green leaf with pronounced curliness.
Grade Grand is distinguished by high uniformity of rosettes.
Advantages of the variety: resistant to blooming, marginal burns and necrosis.
Crispy Vitamin Salad
Medium early lettuce variety. It takes 38-45 days from germination to ripeness.The plant is compact, about 15-18 cm in diameter, with green, crispy leaves (openwork along the edge).
Lettuce variety Crispy vitamin contains many vitamins and beneficial acids. It is recommended to sow several times during the season. Advantages of the variety: high yield, crispy leaf consistency, long shelf life, resistance to stemming and low light.
Kitezh salad
An early ripe variety of lettuce. Forms an erect rosette 20-25 cm high and about 25 cm in diameter. Leaves are medium-sized, oblong, reddish with a strong anthocyanin color, slightly bubbly, wavy along the edge, with incisions in the apical part. The consistency of the leaves is oily. The taste is excellent.
Yield lettuce Kitezh - 2.5 kg / sq.m.
Royal salad
High-yielding early ripening variety of lettuce. Forms large rosettes of corrugated leaves, light in the center and dark green at the edges.
It is characterized by a long period of consumer suitability, does not shoot, is very decorative. Recommended to grow in open and protected ground.
Gourmet salad
Early ripening variety of lettuce. The period from germination to harvesting is 40-45 days. Leaves are yellow-green, slightly wrinkled, with a wavy edge. The average weight of one plant is up to 200 grams.
Lettuce variety Lakomka is intended for growing in open and protected ground. Sowing outdoors from late April to mid-July. In unheated film greenhouses, sowing / planting in the 3rd decade of April - 1st decade of May.
Landing scheme: 20 × 20 cm.
Lolo Biendo salad
An early ripe variety of lettuce. From the moment of germination to technical ripeness, it takes 40-45 days. Leaves are yellow-green in color, curly, fragrant, juicy and crunchy. The socket is compact, rounded, weighing 200-300 grams. The leaves are curly, fragrant, juicy and crunchy, yellow-green in color, delicate in taste, form a compact rounded rosette.
The average weight of one outlet is 200-300 grams. The variety is suitable for year-round cultivation in open ground and greenhouses.
Lollo San Salad
An early ripe high-yielding variety of lettuce. The period from germination to maturity is 40-45 days. The leaves are green, very decorative, corrugated. The rosette-head is loose, with a diameter of 15-20 cm.
The variety is resistant to shooting.
Lollo Rossa salad
The most popular variety of lettuce. The period from germination to technical ripeness is 40-55 days. The plant is tall, erect, 15-20 cm in diameter. The leaves are delicate, wrinkled, curly, light green in color with a wide reddish-pink edge.
Advantages of the variety: good taste, resistance to shooting, decorative. Lollo Rossa salad is often used to decorate flower beds.
Yeralash salad
Mid-season high-yielding variety of lettuce. The average weight of one plant is 150-200 grams.
Advantages of the variety: resistance to marginal leaf burn, high taste.
Moscow greenhouse salad
Early ripening variety of lettuce. It takes only 35 days from germination to harvest. The leaves are pale green, tender, juicy, with excellent taste.
The Moscow Greenhouse salad variety is ideal for fresh consumption, making sandwiches, salads, decorating dishes.
Cabbage salad Kolobok
New late-ripening cabbage variety of lettuce. From germination to technical ripeness takes from 55 to 75 days.
It is grown in open ground and in film shelters. Heads of cabbage are large, weighing up to 600 g. The leaves are red with white veins, very juicy, with a piquant taste.
Fresh heads of cabbage are rich in vitamins and minerals and are recommended for making salads.
Obzhorka salad
An early ripe variety of curly lettuce. It takes 40-42 days from germination to technical ripeness.
The plant forms a raised rosette with a diameter of 25-28 cm, the leaves are reddish, large, strongly wrinkled, juicy and tender. Socket weight up to 160 grams.
Leaf lettuce Naughty
An early ripe variety of lettuce. The period from germination to technical ripeness is 39-43 days. Rosette of green, bubbly, strongly wavy leaves along the edges.
The average weight of one socket is 150-160 grams. The consistency of the leaves is crispy.
Robin leaf salad
Late-ripening variety of lettuce. Ripening period 50 days. Recommended for growing in various climatic zones, outdoors and in winter greenhouses.
The variety is resistant to flowering.
Leaf lettuce Fairytale
An early ripe variety of lettuce. Ripening period 46-49 days. The rosette of leaves is large, weighing up to 250 grams.
Advantages of the variety: resistant to shooting, fast growth at any length of the day.
Typhoon salad
A new mid-season lettuce variety. The leaf is large, green, slightly bubbly, wavy at the edge, with a crispy texture, juicy and delicate in taste.
Advantages of the variety: resistant to flowering, fast growth at any length of the day.
Truffle salad
Medium early salad variety. The leaves are tender, crunchy, corrugated, due to the reddish-burgundy edge, they look very impressive and are indispensable for decorating dishes.
The Truffle salad variety is suitable for year-round cultivation in the open field and in winter greenhouses.
Leaf lettuce Season of Wonders
An excellent early ripening variety of lettuce. The plant forms a large rosette, 25 cm high and 25-40 cm in diameter. The mass of one rosette is about 150 g.
The leaf is medium in size, dark red, wavy at the edge, juicy, curly, bubbly, crispy texture. The taste of fresh leaves is excellent, delicate.
Salad Mix Multivitamin
A wonderful mixture of fast growing salads, with a growing season of 40-45 days.
Plants form large rosettes of exclusively decorative leaves. The leaves are tender, crispy, juicy, with a good taste.
The mixture is suitable for year-round cultivation in open and protected ground.
We recommend purchasing the seeds of the most delicious salads and other spicy herbs in the Sady Rossii online store.
What types of salad do you think are the most delicious? What varieties of lettuce without bitterness, with delicate leaves, would you recommend planting to our readers?
Your reviews and additions will help many gardeners choose the best varieties of green, red, leafy and head lettuce for planting.
If possible, attach a photo of the salad you have grown to your reviews. Thank you!
2. Cabbage and half-cabbage salads
All salads that develop not just in the form of rosettes of leaves, but forming heads of various densities are usually called cabbage (sometimes looser, thinner salads of this group are considered semi-cabbage, but there is no significant difference between them). Head salads are characterized by buttery-crispy greens. Despite the high density of the leaves, they taste just as delicate as leafy salads.
The use of cabbage salads in cooking
Cabbage salads are used only fresh, torn gently with your hands. They are used in the same way as leafy ones in appetizers and salads, go well with other herbs and vegetables, and go well with meat and meat delicacies.
Sowing dates for cabbage salads
To obtain a harvest, at least no later than June, it is necessary to grow such salads in a seedling way, because before the moment of possible planting in the soil in the middle lane, the age of young plants should already reach 30-35 days. The first crops when grown through the seedling method are carried out at the beginning of March, further batches are sown depending on the desired harvest time, given that it will take about a month after planting in the soil and, accordingly, a month at the seedling stage.
In open ground, lettuce seeds are sown before winter (covering with leaves or other mulch), in early spring or early summer. For early varieties, planting is recommended from early April to May, late - from late April to mid-July.
Salads can be sown in greenhouses from March, but this method can only be grown under cool conditions no higher than 18 degrees.
The necessary conditions
For head salads, light and very fertile loams and sandy loams are needed. They form large heads of cabbage only in bright light. They prefer coolness, temperatures up to 20 °.
Sowing cabbage salads in the soil
Before sowing, the soil in the garden must be thoroughly watered. Seeds are scattered in rows to a depth of 2 cm, sparsely. After the appearance of a full-fledged leaf, the plants are thinned out at a distance of 10 cm, after 4 leaves - by 25-30 cm.
Endive, or Chicory salad
Growing head salads through seedlings
Head lettuce seeds are sown in small pots, several pieces at a time. When the plants grow up and release the first leaf, the strongest specimen is left, and the rest are pulled out. You can also grow with a classic dive with dense sowing, but the less damage to the earthen ball, the better. Seedlings are grown, trying to maintain the coolest temperature and stable light soil moisture.
It is possible to transfer seedlings to the ground as soon as the plants reach an age of 25 days and release 4-5 true leaves, from April. Planting distance is 20 cm for early varieties and 25-30 cm for middle and late varieties. It is very important to keep an eye on the root collar, which should not be buried in the soil. For early planting, it is better to at least cover the seedlings with a non-woven material. For lettuce, it is better to use mulching or plant seedlings on agrofibre.
The specifics of caring for head salads
Cabbage salads need, first of all, regular watering, which maintains a constant light soil moisture. It is very important to irrigate not at the root, but between the plants, not to soak the greens and avoid waterlogging. Top dressing for head lettuce growing on not very nutritious soil, which has not been added, or before planting, fertilizer is carried out exactly 2-3 weeks after transferring the seedlings to the soil or thinning. During the period of growing lettuce, it is necessary to carry out at least two weeding with loosening of the soil.
Harvesting and storage
Heads of cabbage are harvested based on the degree of maturity and characteristics of the variety: heads of cabbage must be formed, at least 8 cm in diameter. The heads of cabbage are cut with a sharp knife, with a stump about 1 cm long and without removing the stuck leaves (except for yellowed ones).
Cabbage salads are stored for up to 1.5 months only in the cold (the closer to 0 °, the better), and even then only if mature, large heads of cabbage are harvested. The usual shelf life is 3-4 weeks maximum in the refrigerator.
The best varieties of cabbage salads:
- "Berlin Yellow", early, maturing in 55 days, tender and oily salad with closed rounded leather;
- "Excitement", medium, with a loose head of cabbage, ripening in 60 days and stands out for its delicate crispness and large bright leaves;
- "Khrustalny" is a mid-season variety with scalloped green leaves in loose, rounded heads of cabbage and with increased crispness;
- "Kucheryavets Odessa" with a dense rosette of pale leaves and a neutral taste;
- "Kucheryavets Gribovskiy", a medium variety with loose heads of cabbage with bubbly bright leaves with a pinkish edge;
- "Kudryash" is a flaky semi-cabbage variety with very delicate greens;
- Godard is an early variety with a classic taste and very juicy leaves.
It is worth paying attention to the special types of head lettuce - endive and his relatives. It is a bitter salad with curly cut leaves in a vertical rosette. Its variety escorial stands out with regular wide leaves, and the legendary frieze - carved and curled.
All of them are thermophilic, germinate at temperatures from 17 ° C, for early harvests they are grown through seedlings.Escorial loves fertile, loose and neutral soils and bleaching (binding the leaves into a dense, raised bunch 2-3 weeks before the planned harvest). It is better to grow Frize in shade, because only with poor lighting they produce intibin and other substances important for the characteristics.
The head lettuce is an unpretentious plant that can be grown all season. Unlike leaf lettuce, varieties of the headed subspecies take root very well next to shrubs, other head plants and root crops, so there is no need to prepare separate beds for its cultivation. The decorativeness of the head lettuce varieties allows them to be planted even in a flower bed. The root system of lettuce does not go deep into the soil, therefore it does not conflict with the root system of other plants. If you plant a head lettuce in partial shade, then its leaves will turn purple and perfectly complement the composition of the flower bed. In partial shade, lettuce will not form large heads of cabbage, so more seeds will need to be planted.
Planting seeds and fertilizing lettuce
In order for the head lettuce to take root well and give a crop faster, it must be planted in a sunny place. If you pre-grow the seedlings, then the salad can be harvested two weeks earlier. The lettuce is planted in shallow holes with a diameter of 5 cm or sown along the perimeter of the bed in the furrows. In order to increase the germination of seeds, they are treated with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Seeds must not be buried in the soil. The maximum sowing depth should be 1 cm. Before planting the head lettuce, the soil is loosened well to break up the crust.
After the first shoots appear, the head lettuce is thinned out, then the lettuce is fertilized with a solution of chicken manure. To prepare it, 200 ml of chicken slurry must be dissolved in 10 liters of water.
Harvesting and storing lettuce
Two weeks after planting the seeds in the ground, the lettuce will begin to form a head of cabbage, and after another week it will be possible to harvest. The head of lettuce is cut with garden shears or pruning shears.
If you want to save the salad until next season, then it cannot be washed, otherwise the leaves will rot. Place the head of cabbage in a plastic bag and seal it tightly, then place it in the freezer. After freezing, the salad will not lose its beneficial qualities.
Planting a new salad
After harvesting the first harvest, you need to remove the remnants of the lettuce: the root system and the leaves remaining on the root rosette. They are carefully dug out with a garden trowel, and then furrows are prepared for new seeds. It is necessary to apply nitrogen and potassium-containing fertilizers to the soil. After fertilizing, the soil is well watered and dug up, then furrows are made and a new salad is sown.
