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~ LETTUCE Seed ~ We are looking in particular for new colours and textures to add to your salads, but of course with bolt-resistance and good flavour as well. People sometimes think only of lettuce for their salads, and we have some really good ones here. But there are many other plants that are equally nice and just as easy to grow - so check the rest of the catalogue for things like: the Endive - useful when the lettuce hasn't started yet, mizuna (in the Oriental Vegetables section) which is both pretty & delicious, and the Land Cress makes an interesting all year round addition to your salads. The Salsola Soda is very nice raw in salads, and the West Indian Gherkin in the Cucurbits section is also a prolific salad-ingredient producer. Anyways, on to the lettuces! We've listed them by the types of head they make. ~ Crisphead Lettuces ~ 'Pablo' A purple crisp-heading lettuce that stands well without bolting or becoming bitter. Upright rosettes of crunchy green leaves overlaid with dark purple, can be picked a few leaves at a time or left to make a firm head. This was Kate's favourite in our 2002 trials. Purple crisp-head lettuce Order LePA - 300 seed £1.45 'Reine des Glaces' New in 2007. A fantastic crisphead lettuce - green tightly wrapped crisp iceberg heads, with incredibly frilly & toothed leaves around them. This one has been a real attention getter in the garden this summer. Actually about 200 years old, this variety has recently been reselected for home gardeners, and the seed we have is really vigorous. Here it is being modelled by Mika. Toothed iceberg, incredible. Order LeRG- 300 seed [CO1] £1.55 Your lettuce 'Reine des Glaces' is without doubt the best lettuce I have ever grown . It has had little or no slug damage , dealt with all weather conditions well , hearts up lovely , looks great and tastes suberb . A family favourite which I have passed on to my parents and my children ! Well done. - Paul Johnstone 'Red Iceberg' Another wonderful new lettuce we have added this year to make up a full complement of colours in this crisphead section. Red Iceberg has tight round heads wrapped in dark red leaves. We find it stands well without bolting - it makes really big, crisp heads surprisingly quickly. It is nice and sweet, with good tolerance of cold wet conditions. Dark red iceberg, very pretty Order LeRi- 300 seed £1.45 ~ Openhead Lettuces ~ 'Australian Yellowleaf' A very large open-headed lettuce, with bright, bright green-yellow leaves that are gently frilled. Good flavour and crunchy texture. Very decorative, and slow to bolt. This is still Ben's favourite. We've had lots of really nice feedback from people on this one, including one person who was very happy but said we need to stress the size of it more - it outgrew their 40" wide raised bed despite being beheaded several times! Actually, ours don't usually get that big, but then we do eat a lot of salad . . . Acid yellow loosehead. Order LeAY - 300 seed £1.45 'Flame' Looseleaf lettuce, with pale green leaves that turn truly cherry-red in the centre as the plants get bigger and the weather gets hotter. This is one of the reddest lettuces we have ever seen! It is also slow-bolting and adds a terrific colour to summer salads. Green,cherry-red highlights Order LeFL -300 seed £1.45 'Bronze Arrowhead' Oakleaf This is a type of oakleaf with much bigger leaves than you would expect. They are a bronze colour, and blushed with red and purple in places too - the effect is very striking and this is definitely a close competitor for title of 'best-looking lettuce'. Oh, we almost forgot. It tastes nice too, with a good lettuce flavour and crunchy midribs. Pretty and tasty, what more could you want? Order LeBA - 300 seed £1.45 Grandpa Admire's A very pretty butterhead (= tender leaf type) from the 1800's. Loose heads of pale green leaves, washed with two distinct shades of bronze and red. George Admire was born in 1822, and his lettuce was kept going by the family until 1977 when his last relative, 90yr-old Cloe Lowry, gave some to a seed-saving network as she could no longer grow it. Slow to bolt, tender even in heat. One of our prettiest. Receives rave reviews from everyone. Stunning bicolour butterhead Order LeGA - 300 seed £1.45 ~ Romaine (upright) Lettuces ~ Crisp Mint A lovely really bright green romaine-type lettuce that forms upright rosettes of crispy leaves. Nice and crunchy in salads and sandwiches. An unusual colour and texture for a lettuce, this is a great addition to our lettuce patch. Crisp, intense green colour Order LeCM - 300 seed [CO1] £1.55 'Forellenschloss' Romaine A most unusual lettuce. Attractive with large oval green leaves covered in jagged dark red-maroon speckles. Also known as Speckled-Troutback due to its similarity to the patterns on a trout, this old variety has been a favourite of lettuce collectors for many years. Speckled! Order LeFO- 300 seed [CO1] £1.35 'Devils Tongue' Romaine Here is a great new, large, upright lettuce with glowing red/purple oval leaves. It was very quick to develop, as well as beautiful, in our 2008 trials, and attracted a lot of attention from visitors. We liked it because it stood well without bolting, and didn't get bitter in the heat. This is one of the few lettuces that has both white and brown seeds, so don’t panic when you see them mixed in the packet! Modelled here by Paul M. Order LeDT - 300 seed £1.55 ~ Winter Lettuce Seed ~ What's this you ask? Winter lettuce are simply very-cold-hardy strains, selected for sowing after mid-summer, for harvest in autumn - and with a bit of protection, on into winter. Ideal if you have a polytunnel and want winter salads. 'Winter Marvel' We have been trying out all sorts of different ways of getting more salads overwinter, and this lettuce was one thing that did very well last year. It is a traditional French variety chosen specifically for sowing in late summer and early autumn. It is quite hardy and will do very nicely in an unheated polytunnel or greenhouse, providing salads in winter and spring when they’re most appreciated. It is remarkably cold-resistant and carried on in the polytunnel long after other varieties had given up! Photo taken 28th February in an unheated polytunnel in Wales! Order LeWM - 300 seed £1.45 Saving Lettuce Seed: Here is volunteer Stephanie picking some seed from the Australian Yellowleaf. Alternatively, on the right, you can see Ben has cut whole heads from the plants and let them dry, and is then stomping on them to knock the seeds out. Seed-saving instructions are included with your seeds, so you can do this yourself. And of course, seed-saving is only possible because these are all real, non-hybrid varieties.