Lettuce. Review of lettuce varieties and growing for the benefit of the body

A person needs vitamins throughout the year. And in the winter and at the beginning of the spring period, he feels their shortage very sharply, since fresh herbs and vegetables from his own garden disappear from the table. In order to avoid a deficiency of vitamins in the body, in the cold season, greens filled with valuable vitamins can be grown in the window or in a greenhouse, for example, watercress, green onions or lettuce. At first glance, this may seem like a very difficult task, but in reality it is far from the case. And with the arrival of spring, such greens can be sown again in the garden.

Hello dear readers!

After reading the previous article, you, of course, decided that such a wonderful vegetable should grow in your garden.

After all, such useful greens should be on our table every day.

So it's time to talk about the rules for growing lettuce in our summer cottages. The process of growing lettuce is simple in itself, but you still need to know some of its features. Otherwise, you may be left without a crop.

Garden vegetable salad, lettuce and other types of salad, unpretentious. But this does not mean that lettuce can be grown according to the scheme: sow and forget.

Like all other cultures, this one must be cherished, which yields juicy, extremely healthy, tasty greens.

But you will not have to invest excessive work in plant cultivation.

A tireless minimum of attention, labor costs, and the gardener will provide the family with early tasty vitamin products.

Let us arm ourselves with the knowledge: what the salad needs first of all.

Advantages and disadvantages

Among the main advantages of culture, the following characteristics can be noted:

• tolerates cold well;
• is early ripening, harvests quickly;
• can produce crops almost all year round;
• it contains many vitamins, minerals and other substances useful for humans;
• has a pleasant appearance and good taste;
• not too difficult to care for, suitable for a novice gardener.

Gardeners have not been able to highlight the specific disadvantages of growing this plant.

Beneficial features

All the beneficial properties of lettuce are found in milk juice or the alkaloid lactucine. It is he who gives the leaves a bitter taste and is a natural soothing substance.

Lettuce is not only a low-calorie and dietary plant (only 15 kcal per 100 g), but also quickly creates a feeling of fullness during lunch due to its high fiber content.

The fresh juice of this plant is good for stomach diseases, gastritis. As a sedative, the juice is taken orally, diluted with water.

Soil requirements

The root of the salad, even the most powerful one, is small.

At the same time, he holds a considerable load - lettuce spreads a leaf, cabbages - form heads of cabbage, asparagus drives out thick, arm-thick stems.

All this, of course, requires intensive nutrition.

Therefore, it is illogical to expect a good harvest on a meager land. The soil needs nutritious, filled, preferably with organic matter.

You can add minerals to it before planting, but it is worth remembering: this is still "chemistry", and it will rush straight into the leaf.

For the sake of which we grow this wonderful vegetable, famous for a variety of types and forms - salad.

If nutrients extracted from organic fertilizers (half-rotted manure, matured compost) are sent there, this is a natural process. Natural.

Organic compounds are easily incorporated into the structure of plant cells, and then, already in the product, our body will just as naturally accept them.

Health care is more important than a primitive desire to "kill the worm" with something. It is better to starve it with useful products.

Therefore, avoiding synthetic drugs whenever possible, we will remember: ecology is important.

So, the first thing is a wisely fertilized soil. Better: fertilized in the fall. Why?

Because organic matter will be distributed evenly during the autumn-winter period, the plant that has begun to grow will not experience overfeeding.

It will take as much as it optimally needs for the formation of the leaf mass.

The soil is necessarily loose. Organic matter usually keeps it in this state.

But if there is loam there, when digging, it will not hurt to introduce a certain amount of sand.

Remember: the root is small, its tasks are great. In dense soil with them, it may not work in full force.

Will help:

• Autumn digging with organic matter and (possibly - if necessary) adding sand;
• Presowing early spring digging and harrowing - loosening of the site;
• Providing drainage. This also works for the structure. Waterlogging of any well-fed and structural soils will inevitably lead to their compaction. And it is not difficult to avoid this - in climatically damp regions, either raised ridges for lettuce, or a drainage layer / drainage grooves around the beds.
• With an excess of moisture, the root will undergo soaking. If there is a shortage, it will also die. Hence: the soil on the site should be provided with moisture. Either this is initially a site with optimal moisture, or it will be necessary to ensure the availability of irrigation water. The salad is moisture-loving, it is impossible to form a powerful mass without moisture, and this is: the goal of the gardener, the harvest of green mass.
• According to its preferences, lettuce does not tolerate acidic soils, although it tolerates light acidity. Check the plot for acidity at least for grasses that you did not sow there (weeds). Found woodlice, plantain, knotweed - think about it. These grasses settle precisely in acidified, albeit moderately, places. Perhaps there are plots on your site where the plantain is in no hurry to tread? Consider them for the rest of the parameters, it may be suitable for the successful cultivation of lettuce.

If there are all signs of high acidity, it is better to lime the site, because most of the plants grown in culture do not like sour, tend to neutral soils or tolerate slightly alkaline soils.

Description of leafy green salad, photo

Most common leaf lettuce... First, it develops a root rosette of leaves, and then the plant forms a straight, leafy, branched stem 30-120 cm high, with integral stem leaves, ovoid or round in shape.

Lettuce flowers are small, bisexual, white or pale yellow-green, collected in baskets that form a racemose-corymbose inflorescence. The fruit is achene. Blooms in July-September.

In the wild, lettuce is found in the Mediterranean; it is cultivated in Russia and neighboring countries.

Site selection

The previous subsection smoothly led us to the need to select a site.

Knowing already that it is necessary to choose a place where the soil is loose, regularly fertilized, preferably in advance, in the fall, and devoid of excess acid, we are looking for one on the site.

At the same time, we focus on the possibility of humidification and, at the same time, on organizing the removal of excess water or drainage.

Lettuce is an early ripening culture, withstands several cuts or plantings per season, so the site is unlikely to be set aside for a large one.

The salad will not ask for a lot of space, even spreading the leaf, it will peacefully get along with its relatives, and it will not press the rest of its planned neighbors.

Having decided on the quality of the soil and the size of the site, take a closer look at its location.

Let us again recall the ratio of the aboveground and underground parts of the lettuce. Above the ground, this is a powerful and fragile creature, in the ground there is a small root.

We are looking for a sheltered place where a sudden strong wind (and this happens anywhere) will not damage the plant. It will not break it, because juicy leaves and stems are more fragile compared to the rest.

But the wind protection - the fencing of the site, shrubs, trees, should be organized so as not to obscure the future salad.

He loves the sun, only with such a condition, natural for most plants, that the grown salad will be fruitful.

The salad will not ask for more. If you want to emphasize its decorative effect, and even the most "unpretentious" types of salad are very elegant, then consider another point: where it is beneficial to place it for viewing, while not forgetting to provide the plant with all the above conditions.

Landing rules

Salad is an unpretentious vegetable, but nevertheless, if the standard rules are not followed, it can acquire toughness, bitterness, and may even die. The basic rules of care must be followed, then you can collect juicy green leaves throughout the summer.

Leafy lettuce varieties are grown by sowing seeds in the soil, while cabbages and sub-varieties Romen, Izi Lif and Salanova can be grown by seedlings.

You can plant leafy lettuce 2-3 times during the summer.

Site and soil selection

The best soil is light, humus, and neutral. In order for the leaves to grow beautiful and tasty, the plants need to be given sufficient space to grow and develop.

Leafy forms of lettuce need a plot of 15x15 cm for one bush, for heads of lettuce - 25x25 cm. Too dense planting attracts insects, pests and diseases.

Preparatory work before landing

Lettuce likes light soil. It is better to sow in May so that the soil is warm enough. Make small furrows in the beds, keep a distance of about 30 cm between them.The depth of the furrow should be 1-1.5 cm.

Predecessors and proximity to other plants

Lettuce will feel best in the beds where potatoes, tomatoes, and cabbage used to grow. It is good to plant cabbage near the salad; it can protect the bush from various parasites, in particular from the cruciferous flea.

Planting lettuce seeds

Seeds are placed in moistened soil in rows, to a depth of 1-1.5 cm and a little bit of ground. In order for the lettuce bush to develop normally, the germinated seeds must be thinned out, providing a normal soil area.

Lettuce seeds are small enough, so planting is carried out with your hands, while you need to try to keep them at some distance from each other, about 15 cm.

Growing seedlings

When the seeds have sprouted, they must be thinned out. The first time the extra sprouts are removed, when 3 full leaves appear on the seedlings. The second time, the thinning procedure is carried out after 11-14 days, so that the distance between the plants is at least 10 cm.

To constantly have fresh greens throughout the summer, you need to periodically plant new seedlings - every 2 weeks.

Soil preparation

We touched on this issue in part when choosing a site for culture. Having already structured fertilized drained soil, it will not be difficult to prepare it for sowing.

Lettuce is an early culture. Therefore, before sowing, it remains only to form (if necessary) ridges for it, to keep them in a loose state.

It is convenient to loosen it with a flat cutter, destroying the soil crust, at the same time it destroys still thin shoots of cold-resistant weeds.

Do not let the site stand under the crust for a long time, even deep moisture evaporates very quickly through its cracks.

It is evenly distributed in the soil layer, it is unwise to lose it. Irrigation water will not fit so organically into the soil structure; you can easily overflow or not supply water.

And we strive for the optimum, for the ideal for growing our salad. Favorable conditions are important for any culture.

In practice, it often does not have time to reach the soil crust. Salad does not wait for the heat, it is sown earlier.

Brief description of cultivation

1. Landing... In open soil, early varieties are sown in April – May, and middle ripening and late-ripening varieties are sown from April to the second half of June. Even early maturing varieties are suitable for podzimny sowing, which is carried out in the last days of October or the first in November. Sowing of lettuce on seedlings begins in April, while its planting in open soil is carried out in May. If the salad is cultivated indoors, then you can sow it whenever you want.
2. Illumination... Needs a lot of sunlight, which can be both bright and diffused.
3. Priming... The soil should be fertile, loose, moderately moist and contain a large amount of humus. Loamy, chernozemic or calcareous soil with a pH of 6.0–7.0 is most suitable.
4. Watering... On average, lettuce is watered once every 7 days in the evening or morning. As soon as the heads of cabbage begin to form, watering is reduced. On hot days, watering is carried out at night.
5. Fertilizer... Does not need additional feeding. All necessary fertilizers are applied to the soil when preparing the site.
6. Reproduction... Seeds.
7. Harmful insects... Lettuce flies, stem lettuce aphids, white-striped filly and slugs.
8. Diseases... White and gray rot, peronosporosis, powdery mildew and viral mosaic.

Sowing time

The cold hardiness of the crop makes it easier to grow lettuce. It will rise easily already at 4 ° C of the first spring heat. The snow has melted, the soil is ripe, so you can sow.

A gardener who wants to get an early luxurious leaf for the table does not need to be afraid of return frosts.

Even seedlings will survive at - 4 °, and when several leaves have formed, then - 8 ° young plants will painlessly survive.

Specific dates vary by region. Southerners can sow in winter, if it is warm.

To the north, they are guided by snow melt and soil maturity. Maturity is determined by checking: whether the earth is crumbly, whether it lends itself to processing, cutting of furrows.

Lumps frozen or stuck together from moisture will tell the grower: too early with sowing.

When you can easily form furrows, you can proceed. This frees up the most loaded time for other garden work, when more heat-loving crops are sown.

Unforeseen circumstances sometimes adjust our plans.

If something happens that prevents sowing at the optimal time, but the grower intends to grow the lettuce anyway, the sowing time is shifted.

When sowing it later, re-evaluate the location. The heat during germination is detrimental to the culture.

You may have to choose another site, find a partial shade salad. Then the conditions will be adjusted taking into account the biology of the plant.

The yield will not decrease, or its losses will be minimal.

Soil and fertilizer for the plant

When planting a salad at home, a number of rules must be followed. One of them: the soil must be nutritious and thoroughly mixed. Such a mixture is usually prepared from sand, peat and humus. The first two components are taken in single proportions, and there should be twice as much humus. You can purchase specially adapted soils, for example "Biogrunt" or "Universal".

To ensure an uninterrupted harvest, it is best to sow the plant at intervals of 10-14 days.Removing all the greens, the plant is simply pulled out, loosened and water the soil in order to grow the next batch of green salad.

Usually, the growing lettuce is not additionally fertilized. But after harvesting the first crop and planting the next, you need to feed the soil with ammonium nitrate. You can also use mineral fertilizers, the main thing is that the root system does not get burned.

Sowing lettuce

Cutting of furrows has not been practiced since autumn. Lettuce seeds are too small, therefore, they are not deeply buried.

And the shallow furrows will simply blur over the winter, will be leveled by the weight of snow or a fraction of rain.

If you want to get a very early harvest, the plot planned and prepared in the fall is tightened with a film, without installing the frame.

Do this when thawed patches appear, at the beginning of snow melting. It is possible, when the snow has almost melted, to vary the time if desired.

The earth under the sun warms up faster with the help of the greenhouse effect. Accordingly, the soil matures earlier.

The film is then removed, shallow, approximately two-centimeter grooves (in depth) are cut.

You shouldn't go deeper: small seeds will spill between the lumps of earth even deeper.

Then it will be difficult for them to break through, if not impossible.

It is convenient to mark the grooves with a flat cutter, it is easy for them to form shallow depressions. The hoe is heavier, it sinks deeper into the loose soil.

The distance between the rows is maintained up to 20 cm, adjustment for the variety is possible (closer - further).

Even if the soil is optimally moist, it is spilled lightly in the furrows before sowing. The ground subsides slightly, and the seeds are more likely to end up at the same level, at a given depth.

If something wakes up below, then the number of such seeds will be insignificant.

The small size of the seed makes it difficult to meter the seeding, therefore, sow in bulk, trying not to thicken future seedlings.

All the same, with good germination, it will turn out thickly, this will be corrected later - by thinning.

The grooves are closed flush with the rest of the soil. This manipulation is also convenient to carry out with a flat cutter.

It is not necessary to raise the ground above the rows with a tubercle, the salad will easily rise even with a half-centimeter embedding, maximum - a two-centimeter deepening.

Seed selection

This plant can only be grown from seeds. You can buy them at specialized kiosks or through the online store. An important condition will be to choose the right variety for planting.

Often, novice gardeners do not lend themselves to cultivating a plant because of the wrong variety. The best option for growing at home will be quickly ripening leafy varieties. For example, you can buy salad "Amanda", "Noran", "Quick", "Yellow". Such varieties of it are not too picky about light, watering, soil. They grow quickly, producing lush greens that can be eaten three weeks after planting in the ground. But head lettuce, on the other hand, is very picky about light, temperature and the distance between plantings. If he doesn’t like something, he may not tie himself into heads of cabbage at all.

Often they also take watercress for planting. It is unpretentious and grows in almost any soil, it can be grown with minimal light. Its most optimal varieties are "Curly", "Pepper".

Salad care

Not labor-intensive culture, but some peculiarities of care, growing lettuce, it is useful to know.

Maintaining optimal humidity

The soil should not dry out before sprouting. Otherwise, when it dries, it forms a crust that cracks and at the same time tears thin lettuce sprouts still underground.

Even mulch will not help here, because the plant germinates quickly, breaks through with small leaves upwards.

Immediately needs light. It makes no sense to mulch for five days, then remove the mulch, risking damaging the seedlings.

Therefore, there are only two options:

1. Carefully control soil moisture;

2.Cover the area with a transparent film and remove it at the beginning of the emergence of shoots. You can raise the film like a greenhouse, but not necessary. The main thing is to remove in time and continue to moderately moisten the crops.

It is also not worth zealous with watering when the plant grows stronger. But you will have to keep the middle ground.

The salad cannot stand neither overdrying nor waterlogging. Moisture should be sufficient, but moderate.

If there is a surplus, the gardener will face crop diseases, or the salad will get wet altogether.

With insufficient watering of the juicy mass, not a single type of salad (leaf, head or asparagus) is able to form a full-fledged crop.

Therefore, observing the soil and the condition of the plants themselves, you will have to organize "watering on demand."

This is not difficult, because the real owner necessarily goes around the site every day, checks what and how.

Thinning

The salad, no matter how hard you try to sow it evenly, due to the smallness of the seeds, it will still sprout with thickening.

Therefore, crop thinning is inevitable. Too early, when the stalks of the plants are still thin, like strings, it is impossible to thin out.

The root is already forming, next to another plant. Together with a lump of earth at the root, a neighboring one can also be pulled out.

It is worth waiting until the real leaves. Not for long: the appearance of the first pair is enough.

The first thinning - spreading - is sufficient at a distance of three centimeters between the seedlings.

When they grow up to close the leaves in a row, the final arrangement is carried out.

The distance during the second thinning is approximately equal to the row spacing.

They are arranged so that, according to the varietal characteristics, the characteristics of the salad, it has enough light, space and nutrition.

Loosening

This is a regular procedure. The germination phase is vulnerable in all respects - and the soil needs to be loose, and it is dangerous to disturb it so as not to damage the stalks.

Therefore, the very top of the row spacings is carefully loosened, not getting too close to the rows.

As the seedlings grow, they loosen more often and more boldly. After the final placement, careful loosening is also carried out in the rows until the leaf covers the soil surface.

Then he himself suppresses the weeds and retains moisture, as far as possible, the aisles are loosened.

After each cut (if a cut, leaf salad is grown), the soil is loosened thoroughly around the plant.

The procedure is periodically repeated until the leaves re-grow.

Top dressing

The soil is filled with organic matter, lettuce grows quickly, and the plant does not take much food out of the ground.

Therefore, two or three cuts without feeding the culture easily tolerates. With a long growing season, leafy forms can have time to drive out another or two cuts.

Then it is advisable to help them.

After the next cut with watering or loosening, you can add a small (half) dose of an available complex fertilizer.

It is better not to take a flower one - we do not need flowers, crops are not seed. Pay attention to whether the fertilizer (fertilizer) contains nitrogen, and in what quantity.

If there is more of it than potassium, phosphorus, it will most likely work. It is nitrogen that stimulates the set of vegetative green mass, it spurs the growth of the leaf.

Fertilizers are scattered between rows, then loosening or watering is carried out - orientation to the type of work - according to weather conditions, soil condition.

But it is undesirable to give the full recommended dose. The products are leaf, stem, not fruit.

Having received a lot of nitrogen, the leaves will grow, but they will store nitrates. It is harmful in nutrition, therefore, add half of the dose with top dressing.

And only after the third cut: the previous ones will take what they need from the organic matter introduced in the fall.

Growing lettuce in a flower bed

There are some peculiarities here. Purpose: production plus decorativeness.

This approach simplifies some of the care operations. Thinning is eliminated: continuous curly rows of lush leaves look more elegant.

They go into food easily, only the leaf is smaller.

In a flower bed, thickened plantings can be affected by diseases, pests spread to them faster.

This must be taken into account, try to provide ventilation as much as possible, do not overwet the luxurious rows, and cut it off in time.

So that the flowerbed does not become bare after cutting, it is better to sow lettuce on it at different times: the plants of the first sowing are cut, the second is already turning green.

When the latter approach the cut, the former will grow up.

Properties of salad: harm and benefit

The healing properties of lettuce

The salad contains a large amount of folic acid, which is involved in the metabolic processes of the body, as well as in the activity of the nervous system and in hematopoiesis. Only spinach contains more salt than salad. It contains trace elements such as zinc, molybdenum, titanium, iodine, boron, copper, cobalt and manganese. The foliage also contains potassium, calcium, silicon, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and sulfur, which plays the role of an oxidizing agent and, together with silicon and phosphorus, maintains the epidermis and tendons in good condition, and also promotes rapid hair growth. The foliage also contains vitamins C and A, as well as resins, alkaloids and bitterness, they have a calming, expectorant and diuretic effect.

Iron plays a very important role in the human body, in this regard, it is extremely important that there is a systematic replenishment of its reserves. And the salad contains quite a lot of iron. The accumulation of this element occurs in the spleen and liver, and then, if necessary, the body uses it, for example, with a large blood loss to form red blood cells. The plant also contains magnesium, which stimulates the work of nerves, muscles and the brain. Organic salts play the role of building blocks for new lung tissue cells and nerve cells, and they also improve blood circulation.

The salad is used as a dietary product, which is recommended for diabetics and people leading a sedentary lifestyle, because it has a sedative effect and helps to improve digestion. It is also recommended to eat it for people of age who have suffered a serious illness.

Infusion of lettuce seeds increases lactation, and homeopathic preparations based on lettuce juice are used for heart diseases. The infusion is also prepared from fresh foliage, it helps with liver diseases, insomnia, chronic gastritis and hypertension. Even regular use of lettuce greens normalizes fat metabolism, lowers blood cholesterol levels, which is the prevention of diseases such as atherosclerosis, obesity and hypertension.

Diseases of lettuce crops

Juicy tender leaves, moisture-loving plants are a temptation for fungal microflora, which also adores moisture and feeds on plant flesh.

Even trees are susceptible to fungal diseases; fragile lettuce is even more difficult in this regard.

His main enemies from the world of fungi:

• Black leg (especially in greenhouse cultivation or in greenhouses);
• Black rot, loving wet years and stagnant waters;
• White rot, like all mushrooms, looking for juicy moist food;
• Downy mildew is an almost omnivorous flora, where there are plants, moisture and heat, there is powdery mildew.

Lettuce, like all greens, is more difficult to protect. After all, it is valuable as a leaf, which means that pesticides are excluded.

They accumulate in the leaves, such products are unsuitable for the table.

Therefore, there remain - the means at hand. Our assistants:

• Tomato tops;
• Garlic infusion;
• Potato tops;
• Milk serum.

Of course, they will not help in their original form, you will have to prepare them for spraying.

1. Tomato or potato tops are fermented in the heat in an unsealed container - maybe a plastic tank - for several days. They are filtering. It turns out an effective double-acting drug: it slows down the disease, and scares away pests, some - destroys. It is only necessary to spray the salad crops with the obtained infusion, which is characteristic of solanaceous plants. Solanine will not be absorbed by the lettuce leaf, the quality of the product will be preserved. And solanine will have a disinfecting effect on the fungus.
2. Garlic, infused in water for a day and strained, is also a medicinal preparation ready for spraying. Due to phytoncides and pungency, the infusion of garlic fights against pathogenic flora and at the same time - against harmful fauna (pests).
3. Milk whey is mixed with shaved or grated laundry soap dissolved in warm ordinary water. They take a little soap, for three liters of serum 50 grams. Another drug for fungal diseases. Soap is added for good adhesion to the sheet (then it, having acted on the disease, can be easily washed off by watering), and serum acts with acidity and a set of persistent organic substances. They are useful to humans, but the fungus dies from them.

Types and varieties of salad

As mentioned above, it is more correct to call a salad lettuce, it is a species of the genus lettuce. In this regard, if it says "types of lettuce", then this is most likely due to the fact that below we will talk about one of the varieties of such a plant, for example: semi-cabbage, leaf, cabbage and Roman (romaine). When harvesting, the bush itself is not damaged, only its leaf plates are ripped off, which can be carved (oaky or dissected) or large solid (fan-shaped, oblong and triangular).

Leaf salad

1. Critset... This early variety is resistant to heat and is intended for outdoor and greenhouse cultivation. Ripening period from 40 to 45 days. Its thin leaf plates have a greenish color with a yellowish tinge. The average weight of one bush is 0.25 kg.
2. Emerald... This medium-ripening variety is resistant to stemming and heat. Very tasty dark green leafy plates of obovate shape have a fine bubbly surface. The mass of one bush is about 60 grams, the variety differs in that it does not grow old for a long time.
3. Ballet... The variety is resistant to shooting and lack of light, in spring and winter it is recommended to grow it in greenhouses, and in summer - in the open. Crispy large leaf plates of dark green color have a fan-shaped shape with a scalloped edge. The weight of one bush varies from 0.3 to 0.6 kg.
4. Fun... The medium-ripening variety is resistant to stalking and diseases. Large deep red leaf blades have an oily texture. Average bush weight is about 0.2 kg.
5. A sandwich... The variety is early maturing. Crispy and tender greenish leaf plates have a wavy edge. On average, one plant weighs 0.18 kg. This variety is often used in salads and sandwiches.
6. Moscow greenhouse... Such an early ripening variety is intended for cultivation in greenhouses, the duration of its ripening is from 30 to 40 days. The length of large delicate juicy leaf plates of a sweetish taste is about 18 centimeters, they are colored greenish. The average weight of a bush is 0.1–0.2 kg. This variety is good because its foliage remains fresh for a long time and does not have a bitter taste.

In addition to such varieties, the following are still widely cultivated: Tornado, Roblen, Dubachek, Dubrava, Lollo Rossa, Lollo San, Lollo Biondo, Lakomka, Royal, Kitezh, Crunchy vitamin, etc.

Half-cabbage salad

Semi-cabbage varieties outwardly bear a great resemblance to leafy ones, but their foliage is collected in small unclosed heads of cabbage. The most popular varieties:

1. Odessa kucheryavets... The medium ripening variety is resistant to flowering. A loose rosette reaches 24 to 32 centimeters in diameter and weighs an average of about 0.2 kg. Delicious crunchy green leaf plates are fan-shaped and have a corrugated edge.
2. Eurydice... The medium ripening variety has a compact semi-raised rosette, which is up to 35 centimeters high, and up to 33 centimeters across.The delicious crunchy large leaf plates are dark green and bubbly with a wavy edge.
3. Festival... The ripening period of such a mid-ripening variety is about 70 days. Its large rounded rosette weighs about 150 grams and includes greenish juicy and very tasty leaf plates.
4. Berlin yellow... The medium ripening variety has a rounded rosette, which weighs about 0.2 kg and reaches about 30 centimeters in diameter. The rosette contains pale yellow leaf plates.
5. Kucheryavets Gribovsky... The mid-early variety is resistant to disease. A loose socket weighs between 0.25 and 0.47 kg. Juicy, crispy, very tasty, large, deep green foliage has a fan-shaped shape with a finely corrugated edge.

Still very widely cultivated are such varieties as: Kado, Stone Heads, Grand Rapids, Azart, Admiral, etc.

Head salad

Outwardly, cabbage varieties are similar to dense heads of white cabbage. The scientific name of this variety is "creepsheads", which translates as "crispy heads", this is due to the fact that the foliage of these varieties is very crispy. This variety was born in the twenties of the 20th century thanks to farmers in California.

1. Iceberg... The variety has a high yield and resistance to shooting. The duration of its ripening is 75–90 days. Delicious bubbly leaf plates have a wavy edge and stay fresh for a long time. Average weight of cabbages is from 0.3 to 0.6 kg.
2. Great Lakes... This late high yielding crunchy variety is resistant to flowers and burns. The ripening period is about 85 days. A large round head of cabbage has a closed top, dark green leaves are similar in shape to oak leaves.
3. Attraction... Productive variety of medium ripening period. The composition of the high rosette includes oily greenish triangular leaf plates, slightly wavy along the edge. One head weighs on average about 0.23-0.26 kg.
4. Four seasons... This medium-ripening variety is intended for cultivation both in protected and open ground, the heads have an average size. The inner leaf plates are greenish-yellow, and the outer ones are bronze-red. Delicious leafy plates are oily and tender.
5. Design... The medium late high-yielding variety is resistant to stem stemming. On average, the heads reach about 0.2 m in diameter. Very tasty crispy green leaf plates of medium size are bubbly and round-flat in shape, they are wavy along the edge with small cuts in the upper part. The average weight of the head is 0.5–0.65 kg.

Among gardeners, varieties are also very popular: Khvorost, Petrovich, Argentinas, Papiro, Khrustalny, Yadkho, Kucheryavets Semko, Buru, Umbrinas, Platinas, Opal, Afitsion, etc.

Roman salad, or romaine salad

An elongated head of cabbage is formed in romaine or roman lettuce. The root of such a plant is represented by a branched rod, the upper foliage of the head has a bright green color, and the inner one is pale yellow. Popular varieties:

1. Paris green... The medium ripening variety is resistant to cold and heat. From the moment the seedlings appear, the head of cabbage is formed after 84–90 days. The not very dense head reaches 32–39 centimeters in diameter and weighs 0.2–0.3 kg. The sweetish juicy and crunchy leaf plates of a dark green color with a bluish tint are up to 13 centimeters wide and about 27 centimeters long.
2. Legend... The variety has appeared relatively recently, it is resistant to downy mildew, arrowheading and edge burn. The compact, medium-sized green head consists of bubbly foliage.
3. Remus... A productive late variety with a loose, closed head of elongated-oval shape, the average weight of which is about 0.43 kg. Bubbly dense medium-sized leaf plates have a dark green color and an elliptical shape.
4. Balloon... This late variety forms a loose oval-elongated head, reaching about 12 centimeters in diameter, its height up to 25 centimeters, and an average weight of 0.3–0.35 kg. The foliage is greenish.
5. Roman... The medium-ripening variety is resistant to bacteriosis and septoria. The length of obovate elongated leaf plates is about 26 centimeters; they have a barely discernible fine-celled, weakly fibrous structure and a slightly ragged toothed edge. The average density of oval-elongated heads reaches up to 14 centimeters in diameter, their height is about 25 centimeters, and they weigh 0.29-0.35 kg.

The following varieties are also cultivated: Stanislav, Vyacheslav, Sukrain, Dandy, Veradarts, Sovsky, etc.

All lettuce varieties are still divided according to the ripening period into late-ripening, mid-ripening, early-ripening and early-ripening. The earliest variety Lue Leaf: this lettuce matures in 25 days. Duration of ripening of varieties Kholodok, Lollo Rossa, Robin, Moskovsky greenhouse and Dubachek is about 35 days. The average ripening period of the varieties Vitaminny, Green Peak, Sunshine is formed in 45 days, they allow you to remove two crops from the site during one season. Varieties Rubin and Gurman are medium late, they mature for about 55 days. Such varieties as Green Manul, Rhapsody, Odessa Kucheryavets, Vitamin and Moscow Greenhouse do not have bitterness.

Lettuce pests

We are not the only ones who love tender greens. Polyphagous pests can destroy crops "to zero".

• The most maleficent vegetable lovers are the ubiquitous slugs. They generally choose everything that is juicy, and if they do not protect the plantings, they will not crawl past. However, there are methods to force them to bypass the salad plots. By sprinkling the soil around the plants with a thin layer of a mixture of sand and wood ash, you will discourage the toothy slippery gourmet from any desire to have dinner (slugs feed mainly at night) with salad. You can lay out wet rags in the aisles at night, in the morning you will collect the "harvest" of the slugs hiding under them for the day. Traps of this type are very effective, collecting many pests.
• Another disaster: aphids. So many juices in a salad is the best dining room for her. If you don't be on the lookout, aphids will definitely settle there. Protection is the same as against disease, plus an ash-and-soap solution. Aphids die from it, there is no harm to the plant.
• Wireworms can damage the roots of the culture, if they are on the site. The pest is fortunately not widespread everywhere. It is, of course, difficult to deal with it, even if pesticides were acceptable. This is a different case, so only bait traps will help here. A precautionary measure, you need to catch the wireworm before the salad is sown. Cut the potatoes into pieces, make shallow holes, lay out the pieces. Dig in. Mark the locations of the traps so that you can easily find them. Three days later - dig up a bunch of elongated tough yellow larvae and destroy the prey. Repeat until the "catch" disappears. This means that the number of harmful larvae is reduced to a minimum; lettuce can be sown and grown.

Whatever the pests or diseases that have taken a fancy to the salad, they are fought with only environmentally friendly methods:

• Agrotechnics (especially crop rotation);
• Setting up pest traps;
• Treatment products harmless to humans.

Controlling major pests

Naked slugs and leaf aphids are the main pests of salads. Even on sandy soils, wireworms or click beetle larvae may appear.

And as already mentioned earlier, when the plantings are thickened, the plants are affected by various rot.

Leaf aphid

Leaf aphids are also dangerous, they settle in colonies on the underside of leaves. Then it begins to suck out all the cellular juice, as a result of which the lettuce leaves curl and dry out. And the flowers and ovaries crumble.

In appearance, the aphid at first looks yellowish, and then turns dark green and begins to secrete copious sticky excrement.Weeds around the beds should be mowed and removed to prevent aphids from spreading massively.

If, nevertheless, aphids appear, then the plants are sprayed with decoctions or infusions of fresh or dried plants of tomatoes, onion husks, fruits of bitter capsicum.

A good effect is given by decoctions of crushed garlic bulbs 200 g and tobacco waste 200 g.

Watering with infusions of an ash solution also helps from aphids, which can be prepared by taking 4 tbsp. l. 10 liters of water and mixing with 1 tbsp. l. liquid soap.

A particularly relevant tested remedy is the constant sprinkling of holes around the plants with dry ash.

Slugs

In wet summers, enemies appear in the form of slugs. During the day, they hide under the tops and waste. They creep out onto plants in the evening and at night. Thus, there is no need to arrange landfills from boards next to the beds.

The furrows between the beds must be sprinkled with sand, wood ash, superphosphate so that they cannot move.

For spraying, prepare a decoction of capsicum. To do this, you need to insist in 10 liters of water 0.5 kg of pepper for two days. Then boil it for 1 hour, then cool, grind and squeeze the pepper, strain the broth. Additionally, add 40 g of soap to spray on 10 liters of water.

Wireworm

For head lettuce, the wireworm is especially dangerous because it bites into the roots. Because of this, plants wither and die. First of all, you should collect the bright yellow wireworm larvae when digging the soil in the spring and fall. Collect them in a jar of water. Then give it to the chickens because they love it.

The wireworm loves to eat cereals and creeping wheatgrass, so they need to be destroyed near the beds. In the fall, add lime to the beds because wireworms avoid alkaline soils.

To catch and collect it, they make a bait. To do this, pieces of beet and halves of potatoes are dropped on the site, which are then collected and destroyed along with the larvae accumulated on them.

White spot (septoria)

White spot appears mainly in the second half of summer in heat. It is a light spot with a brown border on the lower leaves.

All diseased plants must be destroyed.

To prevent the appearance of white spot, crop rotation must be observed and planting must not be thickened. Pesticides cannot be used.

Harvesting, storage

All types of salad are harvested by one method: cutting. The difference is in the frequency.

Most leafy cuts give several cuts. Heads - one. Asparagus can be cut if used immediately.

But they can also be removed by pulling them out with the roots in order to keep them for some time.

Leafy... Leafy ones are not stored for a long time. They are cooled, then used.

If, nevertheless, such a need - to keep them for three to seven days - is available, you can try. There are some subtleties.

Although the salad is juicy and, it would seem, it needs more moisture even during storage, this is not the case.

Cut wet (or washed) lettuce rots quickly.

Therefore, cut it dry, without dew. The weather is chosen appropriate so that it will be dry the day before.

In a tied bag in the lower compartment of the refrigerator, a cut leafy vegetable will last for three days.

For aging a week, it must be removed by the roots. Likewise, they put it with the root down in the bottom box.

There is no guarantee that it will last for a long time, but it usually lasts for several days.

Cabbage... Cabbage salads are cleaned differently. They are watered on the day preceding harvesting.

The head of cabbage, drunk with water, is stored better. Cut it off, stepping back down to the root, from the base of the leaves a small, finger-thick, distance.

In a cool, moderately humid basement, the heads of cabbage will lie for a week without problems. Then the taste and nutritional value will lose.

If there is space in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator, the salad in a plastic bag will stay there usable longer.

Asparagus... Asparagus is harvested at about 4 months of age from sowing, the cultivation of these salads is long.

But first, several cuts of edible leaves are carried out, starting from one and a half months. The leaf is for food, the stem gets enhanced nutrition, it is better formed.

Having counted back about half a month from the intended harvest, the plant is freed from all the leaves in general.

The stem quickly thickens and gains mass. Then it is cut off.

It is impossible to overexpose at the root: the stem will chase the peduncles, coarsen, and lose marketability.

The stem is stored for a long time, it is consumed in the summer, it can be stored in the winter.

In the second case, plants with roots are removed. This is done in late autumn, before frost.

Then all the leaves are cut off and the roots are placed on the ground in the basement. For this, boxes are filled with earth, moistened.

The roots are also sprinkled with soil. The method is laborious, not for everybody. It is necessary to monitor the humidity, temperature, condition of the plants.

It is a rare enthusiast who practices this at home.

Now you are armed with the minimum knowledge required to grow different types of salads.

You know that a wavy green leaf is not just a decoration on a plate, but a valuable, even sometimes healing, product.

Is there a place on your property for an early green healer?

Assess your crop rotation: perhaps the salad is waiting for your attention for a long time. And I am ready to repay you for it with all my healing powers.

See you soon, dear readers!

Possible difficulties

As soon as the Lettuce releases the flower arrow, the taste of the foliage is noticeably impaired. Forcible removal of the peduncle will not help either. Therefore, the crop must be harvested before shooting. It is recommended to uproot salads.

Sowing early-maturing varieties in summer will result in accelerated stem growth and a small number of leaves. At this time, you need to sow mid- and late-season Salads.

In thickened plantings, the risk of disease and pest attacks increases. It is very important to leave personal space for each plant. Weak or diseased bushes must be removed immediately.

Sometimes the Romaine lettuce "breaks up". Tying the bush with a wide ribbon will help prevent the problem. In addition, in such plants, the inner leaves turn white and become more juicy.

Leaves and heads should not be picked in hot weather or immediately after rain / watering. Such greens quickly rot. It is best to do the cleaning early in the morning.
Editorial staff

Growing lettuce at home in pots

First, choose a medium-sized container. The plant does not have a particularly deep root system, so a medium container, for example, 60 by 60 cm or 40 by 80, with a depth of about 10-15 cm, is suitable. Plastic pots are preferable to clay ones, since the clay absorbs water and the soil dries out faster than in plastic.

When using clay pots, you can line the inside with a plastic bag, fill in soil, and plant seeds. Remember to make holes in the bag to drain the water.

Make sure any pot you have has drainage holes to allow excess water to drain into the sump if you water the plant from above. The holes also allow for tray watering, which is especially useful for salad dressings.

Clean the container if it has been used before. Bacteria and insect eggs can subsequently destroy your plants. Standard soap and warm water should kill most potential threats, but you can also wash the container with a solution of nine parts water and one part bleach for a more thorough cleaning, or a soda solution followed by a potassium permanganate rinse.

Buy a standard soil mix for your plants. You can, of course, use a mixture of garden soil with humus, turf and sand, but if you want to grow salad without fuss, you do not need to fantasize, coming up with ways to disinfect such soil.Avoid using soil directly from your garden, as it always contains bacteria and insects that can damage your crops. Fill the pot with soil high, but not all the way to the top. You should leave approximately 2.5-3 cm of empty space between the soil surface and the edge of the container.

Application in cosmetology

Lettuce is 90% moisture, which is why it is widely used in the cosmetic industry to moisturize the skin. In addition, the plant relieves irritation, peeling, protects the dermis from the aggressive effects of ultraviolet rays, prevents premature aging, saturating it with vitamins and minerals. Calcium, carotene, protein, retinol and folic acid contained in lettuce refresh the skin of the face, smooth out fine wrinkles, heal cracks, and give it elasticity.

"Household tricks":

1. A decoction to moisturize dry skin. Method of preparation: pour 30 grams of dry lettuce leaves and a bunch of fresh ones with 200 milliliters of water, boil for 7 minutes, cool, strain. Wipe your face with the resulting broth daily. Store it in a cool place for no more than 3 days.
2. Mask to eliminate acne. Take equal amounts of lettuce and water, grind in a blender. Apply the vitamin mass in a dense layer on the skin, bypassing the area around the eyes, for 30 minutes. Then wash off the mask with cool water.
3. A nourishing mask for aging skin. Moisturizes, tones, relieves irritation. Mix 15 grams of chopped lettuce, burdock and radish, add 15 milliliters of lemon juice and vegetable oil to the mixture. Mix thoroughly. Apply the mask to face, wait 15 minutes, rinse.
4. Mask for lightening age spots and whitening the face. Suitable for those with oily skin. Method of preparation: chop fresh lettuce and parsley in equal amounts. Add 45 milliliters of sour milk to the herb puree, stir. Apply a thick layer on cleansed face for 15 minutes, rinse with cool water.
5. Mask for nourishing normal to combination skin. Grind lettuce leaves into a homogeneous mass, add 5 milliliters of lemon juice, 15 milliliters of olive oil. Apply the resulting mixture to the skin. After 15 minutes, wash off with water.
6. Mask for intensive hydration of dried skin. Grind the lettuce leaves in a blender to a homogeneous gruel, pour hot milk over it, mix. Apply on face for 20 minutes, rinse.
7. Mask for eliminating oily sheen near the wings of the nose, on the chin, and on the forehead. Take 30 grams of fresh lettuce puree, mix with egg white, 8 drops of lemon juice. Spread the mask evenly over the contour of the face, rinse it off after 15 minutes. To soothe the skin, wipe your face with a decoction of chamomile flowers (cooled).

Perform treatments 3 times a week.

To strengthen curls, stimulate hair growth and eliminate dandruff, grind lettuce leaves, add a few drops of burdock oil, apply the product to cleansed scalp and hair (along its entire length) for 20 minutes. After the specified time has elapsed, rinse with warm water. Perform the procedure 2 times a week. The effect of applying the mask will be noticeable within a month.

How to grow iceberg lettuce

But in May, you also want to have excellent tasting dense Iceberg heads. He has a vegetation period of 1.5-2 months, and he tolerates the summer heat worse. I make squares with boards up to 15 cm high and 1 × 1 m in height. In this area I plant 3-4-week seedlings in the first decade of April, usually with a distance of 20-25 cm between plants, these are 16-25 plants. I grow seedlings separately, in a heated polycarbonate greenhouse.

I cover the beds with the planted Iceberg lettuce with non-woven material. But the main secret is different. In May, there are weeks with sunny days, when the temperature in the beds rises to + 30 ° C. This is enough for the cold-loving Iceberg to go to the arrow.On such days, from 11 am to 4 pm, I cover the salad with thin foam rubber covered with aluminum foil, which repels the hot rays of the sun and shortens the day. It is convenient to do this when there are high sides in the beds.

It has been proven that 5 hours of sun a day is generally enough for a salad, but I get it twice - in the morning and in the evening - 5 hours of cool morning lighting. Heads of cabbage fill faster and grow larger. With a shortened day, they also become more tender and sweet. With such shelters, radishes, sweet radishes, and head lettuce can be grown until mid-summer.

To the content

Outcomes

Here's a list. I tried at home and

grow, and

; planted in childhood

... I drove out the greens

trying to keep transplanted from the garden

... In a word, there were many different experiments, and the listed cultures were among my favorites.

The decisive factors when choosing were such factors as ease of cultivation and undemanding conditions. I will repeat what I have already said more than once: almost any garden culture can be grown at home, but not everyone has the opportunity for this. Therefore, the best plants for a home garden are those that anyone can easily grow.

You can choose seeds of herbs and herbs for your home garden to your taste by looking at our catalog, which contains offers from various online stores of seeds and planting material. Choose seeds of green and spicy crops.

Summing up, it should be noted that getting lettuce on the balcony in winter will take some effort. But the delicate taste of home-grown greens and the certainty that you are eating healthy greens without chemicals is definitely worth it!

We decide on lighting and temperature

The place where the lettuce will be grown should be well lit, but it should not be exposed to direct sunlight. If the lighting seems to be insufficient, then it is best to organize the backlighting with fluorescent lamps. Their height should be at least 50-60 centimeters from the container with plants.

If this happens in the off-season, then it is necessary to transfer the salad to the loggia, where there is a lot of fresh air. Landings will easily transfer the temperature regime of 8-10 degrees above zero.

The optimum temperature for growing lettuce is 18-20 degrees, if it is higher, then the plant will start to go "in the arrow", so in the hot summer months it should be shaded.

Proper seed preparation before planting

Before sowing the seeds, it is recommended to sort them out. Specimens with high sowing qualities are suitable for cultivation. They should not show signs of deformation and signs of disease. Small grains are also not suitable for sowing, since the shoots that sprout from them are poorly developed.

Lettuce seeds. Illustration for this article is used under a standard license.

To select healthy grains, you can use a sodium chloride solution. You just need to fill the seed material with the composition and leave it for 15-20 minutes. The seeds that have risen up should be removed. For sowing, you can use seeds that have sunk to the bottom. Then the liquid must be drained, and the seeds must be rinsed with clean water.

What kind of soil does the plant like

The culture needs to provide the right conditions for growth. The plant feels great on fertilized soil with drainage, fed with useful substances. You can neutralize the increased acidity by mixing with dolomite flour or lime.

Particular attention should be paid to the choice of a landing site. It is important that it is well lit and ventilated. Drafts are not allowed. To prevent rotting of the roots of a culture, you can plant it on a hill.

A well-ventilated and well-lit place is chosen for planting lettuce. Illustration for this article is used under a standard license.

How to prepare a seedbed for sowing

In the autumn period, humus must be added to the soil, in the spring, re-digging is carried out 14-20 days before planting. After such work, it must be fed with mineral fertilizers (potassium salt, superphosphate).

If the soil is not fertile, it is recommended to feed it with perlite sand, organic fertilizers, and wood ash. You need to start preparing in the fall. Fertilization is carried out at the time of digging up the soil. In the spring, the area where the salad is planned to be planted must be treated with a non-concentrated solution of potassium permanganate or doused with boiling water. Before sowing, the soil should be leveled, large lumps should be crushed with a rake. Lettuce grows well on loose soil. If it is too dense, peat, river sand, humus are suitable for its relief.

How to store?

Fresh lettuce leaves are of the greatest value to the human body. Perhaps each of us has come across a situation when, after buying a plant, it begins to wither the next day, respectively, the amount of nutrients in it evaporates every hour. To prolong the freshness of the food and get the most out of your body, keep it in the refrigerator separately from vegetables. At the same time, wrap the salad in a plastic bag, or better in a paper bag, otherwise it will dry out and dry out.

Do not put wet leaves in the refrigerator, as they will wilt quickly. Remember, lettuce is perishable and can be stored in a cool place for a maximum of two to three days.

Do not prepare salad with herbs in advance, season and salt it just before serving. Otherwise, juice will flow out of it, which will quickly oxidize when interacting with oxygen. As a result, the salad will lose its airiness and some of its nutrients. The leaves do not need to be cut, it is better to disassemble or tear them with your hands. An excellent combination - lettuce with lemon juice and garlic. In this case, there is no need to add some salt to the lettuce leaves.

When choosing greens, give preference to the one with roots, since most of the vitamins and nutrients are stored in them. The leaves should be juicy, bright, of moderate size without spots and rot, and the middle of the stems should be white without damage. If areas of greenery tied with a thread were pinched and dripped, remove them. The outer leaves of the head lettuce should be flat against the base.

For the release of nitrates and "reanimation" of the dried lettuce, place it in a bowl of cold water for half an hour. Season green salads with linseed or olive oil. For dressing, choose spices that have a pronounced taste and add them little by little. To enhance the aroma, add herbs to the lettuce: rosemary, parsley, mint, cilantro, celery, basil.

Varieties with a neutral taste are harmoniously combined with soft cheeses, olives, tomatoes, fried eggplants, oranges, with a bitter taste - with fish, shrimps. It is interesting that for the preparation of the famous Caesar salad, Romano salad is traditionally used.

Planting seeds in open ground

Sowing lettuce in your garden is easy. It is enough to adhere to this instruction:

• The soil in the garden bed is moistened with a watering can and grooves are drawn at a distance of at least 20 cm.
• The soil in the grooves is tamped with a wooden stick and once again moistened with water.
• Spread the seeds at intervals of 1-2 cm. Cover the seeds with a layer of light soil (a purchased soil or a mixture of soil and compost is suitable).
• Sprinkle the garden with water. Cover the soil with thin agrofibre. No crust forms under the shelter and moisture does not evaporate.

Good to know. Presowing seed preparation accelerates their germination. Overnight, the seeds are soaked in a shallow container with water, and then wrapped in a damp cloth and kept until roots appear. Sprouted seeds are planted in a standard way.

Parsley

You can get parsley greens at home in two ways: sowing seeds in the ground and forcing from prepared roots.The second method, although it requires some preliminary preparation, is generally simpler. Even if you have not prepared planting material since autumn, you can look for high-quality root crops for distillation in the vegetable departments of stores.

For our purposes, absolutely healthy parsley roots of medium size (30-60 g in weight) without signs of wilting are suitable. They must have an apical bud - heavily trimmed plants will not produce greenery.

Having well moistened the soil in a box or flower pot, we plant root crops, covering their tops with soil. Too long can be cut (sprinkled with charcoal cut to avoid rot) or planted obliquely. The latter option is considered even more preferable than the regular fit.

Parsley from seeds at home. Photo by the author

If you grow parsley from seeds, you need to take into account two nuances: the plant is photophilous, and its seeds germinate rather slowly. When sowing, the containers with parsley were not very well located relative to the light source, and the seedlings immediately began to stretch out. And it was possible to accelerate germination thanks to preliminary soaking of the seeds in a solution of Gumi (I will certainly tell you more about this wonderful preparation somehow).

Read more about growing aromatic greens at home in the article How to grow parsley on a windowsill, and choose seeds in our catalog, which contains offers from various garden online stores. Select parsley seeds: