Scrumptious Summer Salad

Last year I grew quite a lot of salad but made all the mistakes of having a glut and then none for months and seeing lettuces bolting and getting eaten by slugs.....it's not as easy as it seems!

So I made it a project to learn how to grow salad so that there would be enough interesting lettuce and leaves for as much of the year as possible.

In August last year I sowed salad for the winter to have in the greenhouse and made sure that I grew cut and come again plants so that they would last through. I sowed some really great varieties and was thrilled that we have only just finished harvesting from those original plants now in March. The varieties were Black Seeded Simpson, Green oak leaf, Cocarde, Salad Rocket and Mustard Green Streaks. These are all loose leaf cut and come again plants which mean’t that I could go into the greenhouse and take a handful of leaves from each variety and mix them into a great salad. There was something magical about having fresh green leaves all winter whenever we wanted them and they were flavourful and peppery which mean’t that they could take a warm veg or chicken topping easily. They were such a success that I will repeat those same varieties this August for next winter. I also grew some Valdor which are eaten as a whole lettuce and can stand outside in the Patch all winter, coming into their own in spring. 

Valdor lettuce - it will stand happily all winter

Mustard green streaks - hot and peppery- perfect in warm winter salads

Black Seeded Simpson - a wonderful crunchy loose leafed lettuce

For the summer I have decided to grow more of the loose leaf varieties together with Mizuna, Rocket  and Sorrel for salads - I love being able to cut a few leaves whenever I want and watch them grow back in no time! I will be adding two Batavian varieties which are loose leafed too, Rosemoor and Noisette, and Danyelle a red oak leafed variety. I will sow all these varieties four times, once in February for the greenhouse beds before the tomatoes and aubergines take over. Second sowing in April for the beds in the Patch, third sowing in June for outside to take us into the autumn and fourth sowing in August/ September for the greenhouse beds all through the winter. 

Cocarde lettuce and Winter Density a cos type lettuce

Salad Rocket and Cocarde lettuce growing all winter in the greenhouse - I must have picked it hundreds of times a few leaves at a time. 

Then there are the whole lettuces that I love which are harvested in one go - Tom Thumb (a tiny hearted lettuce good for small spaces in the Patch like in between the parsnip plants. By the time the parnsips are maturing you will have eaten all the lettuce!) Lobjoits Cos, Freckles Romaine (green freckled with red), Roxy Butterhead (red) and Suzan Butterhead (green).  I will grow a very few of each of these whole lettuces at a time (perhaps about five) but will re-sow each month so that we have a continuous supply. I will also sow Pak Choi in the same way - I love it for stir fries.  This way I can taylor the production and type of salad to what we want at different times in the summer.  That’s the plan and I will report back as to how it goes! It feels like a lot of planning but I think it will be worth it and hopefully there will be no waste. 


I was upset to find that I had whitefly in the greenhouse at the end of the winter and some of the Valdor were demolished into a browny goo by the little blighters. I bought a sulphur candle called DeadFast and emptied the greenhouse one night, lit it and watched the place fill with acrid smoke. The next morning I ventilated it for a few hours before putting all the seed trays back in. Now at least I know that it is 'clean' for the new season. I will hang sticky fly papers in there over the summer just in case they return. Luckily we were right at the end of the salad. It had done so well standing all winter without a problem. So if you suspect something is eating your greenhouse plants check out a sulphur candle - you can get them on line. 

A good tip - when sowing lettuces in the height of summer sow them in the afternoon/evening so that it is a little cooler than in the daytime while they are germinating and lay a dampened piece of newspaper over them until they have germinated. This worked a treat for me last August! Lettuces don't like heat - annoying as when its hot all we want to eat is salad!

If you have ever eaten lettuce grown in a garden and cut and washed just before a meal you will know that nothing in this world beats a home grown salad.