Vegetable Gardening (66 page)

Romaine lettuce grows tall, upright, solid heads and long, thick green or red leaves with solid
midribs
(the middle vein of the leaf). This type of lettuce tends to take at least 70 days to mature from seeding and can withstand summer heat. It can be grown as a "cut and come again" type of lettuce. Here are a few common varieties:

‘Outredgeous':
Bright red, thick, glossy, ruffle-edged leaves form the red color best on this open-pollinated variety when grown in partly shaded areas.

‘Parris Island Cos':
This smooth, green-leafed, open-pollinated romaine lettuce has 10-inch-tall, thick, green leaves.

‘Rouge D'Hiver':
An old French heirloom with bronze-red smooth leaves and a buttery texture. It tolerates cold better than heat.

‘Winter Density':
This variety is a green smooth-leaf lettuce that's actually a cross between a loose-head and a romaine-type lettuce. This 8-inch-tall plant is both heat and cold tolerant.

Loose-head lettuce

Loose-head or Butterhead lettuce features dark or medium green leaves or red leaves and smooth, thick outer leaves folded around a loosely-formed, yellow-to-white head. The heads of loose-head lettuce aren't solid like a crisphead type, but they're easier to grow, especially during the summer heat. This type matures starting at 60 days from seeding. Here are a few popular varieties:

‘Bibb':
‘Bibb' is an heirloom, dark green, smooth-leafed, loose-head lettuce that dates back to the 1800s.

‘Buttercrunch':
A bolt-resistant, open-pollinated, loose-head type, ‘Buttercrunch' has thick, juicy, ruffled leaves; it's best grown as a summer crop.

‘Deer Tongue':
This heirloom, loose-head type lettuce with tongue-shaped, smooth-edged, green leaves is slow to bolt, making it a good choice in warm weather. Kids are fascinated by this variety because of its unique shape and name.

‘Four Seasons' (Merveille des Quatre Saisons):
This heirloom has beautiful deep burgundy, smooth-edged, puckered outer leaves covering a creamy green-leaved heart. The plants are compact and sweet.

‘Speckles':
An unusual Amish heirloom Bibb-type lettuce with red speckles on olive green, smooth-edged, slightly puckered leaves and a blanched green heart.

Loose-leaf lettuce

Loose-leaf lettuce doesn't form a solid head and is best harvested by picking off the mature outer leaves, allowing new leaves to continue growing. This type is often cut and allowed to "come again" (I discuss this technique later in this chapter) to provide multiple crops of greens from one head. You can start harvesting this type about 45 days from seeding. Some popular varieties include the following:

‘Black Seeded Simpson':
This widely adapted variety is an heirloom lettuce with crinkled, light green leaves. ‘Simpson Elite' is a more heat-resistant strain of this classic variety.

‘New Red Fire':
This unusual, open-pollinated variety has extremely frilly, burgundy-red puckered leaves. It's slow growing and disease resistant.