I really love salads! I am constantly planting new species. This time I decided to try planting 4 Seasons lettuce.
What the manufacturer promises:
Package with double expiration date!
Mid-season cabbage variety for open and protected ground. The period from germination to economic suitability is 70 days.
The head of cabbage is medium in size. The outer leaves are bronze-red, the inner leaves are yellow-green. The consistency of the leaves is very delicate, oily, taste qualities tall.
The leaves of this variety can be eaten a month after germination, without waiting for the head to form.
Agricultural technology
I planted the lettuce at the beginning of May by direct sowing in the ground in a sunny place, at the same time as cabbage seeds under a temporary film cover. They rose quickly! True, I abandoned this bed at first, since there was no way to look after the garden at all. The lettuce bed is easy to weed as you can see that the lettuce is a purplish green color! You can plant it as a seal for cabbage. I water it every day.
The leaves are very beautiful color! They are yellow-green inside and the outer leaves are bronze-green.
The leaves are soft and delicate to the touch with a unique texture! Growing quickly. If you prepare the salad correctly, it turns out delicious.
Minuses
My relatives love to walk in the garden and are sure to pick something and eat it! So my man picked a leaf, tasted it, winced and spat it out! It turned out that the salad was bitter! And this is the main disadvantage of the salad! If you look at a cut of lettuce, you can see white bitter juice. He's bitter! If this doesn’t bother you, then you can plant such a salad. And he also doesn’t want to curl up. Maybe the time just hasn't come? Let's see what happens in a month.
How to cook so that the salad does not taste bitter
You just need to sprinkle the dish (salad) with a slice of lemon. It took me a good half of a lemon for three servings! I let the salad sit and soak for 15 minutes. And that's it, you can eat! Now nothing tastes bitter! And the salad turns out delicious!
Bon appetit everyone!
In Europe it is amazing plant began to be cultivated in the 17th century; it was brought to Russia by Peter the Great. Lettuce is an annual garden plants, to the Aster family. There are three main types: lettuce, endive and endive. Most used. It is known for three varieties: leaf, cabbage and romaine.
Nowadays, salad is becoming more and more popular. He is especially revered by his supporters healthy food and gourmets. You can, of course, buy it in supermarkets, or you can grow it yourself on your own. summer cottage. For those who choose the second option, I suggest we talk in more detail about leaf lettuce, lettuce, cultivation, and varieties of this wonderful plant.
Differences in lettuce
Leaf lettuce produces a rosette of light green, green or red leaves (this depends on the variety).
In the cabbage variety, the leaves are rolled up, forming a head of cabbage up to 12 cm in diameter (sometimes more).
Romaine forms a raised rosette of succulent leaves, and in the middle of it is a head of cabbage in the shape of an elongated cone (weighing about 300g).
The benefits of salad
In any of the varieties of this vegetable plant contained a large number of useful substances: vitamins (C, groups B, P, PP, E, K, A), minerals (calcium, potassium, iron, iodine, copper, etc.), fiber. The alkaloid lactucin gives the leaves a bitter taste. Regular consumption of salad helps improve blood composition, regulate metabolism in the body, and helps to lose weight. overweight. It is also useful for patients with gastritis and diabetes. Used to prevent constipation. Salad leaves have a beneficial effect on nervous system, have a calming effect and are therefore recommended for insomnia. To increase lactation, nursing mothers are advised to take an infusion of the seeds of this plant. The juice of the leaves strengthens hair.
Favorable factors for growing lettuce
This vegetable is not afraid low temperatures. Its seeds germinate in five to six days at 5C. Young seedlings can withstand frosts down to –20C. Therefore, this crop is sown in the ground in early spring. Sometimes winter sowing is used. At 20C or more, early varieties form flower stalks ahead of time. Heat and low soil and air humidity increase the bitterness in the leaves. Head lettuce will accelerate the formation of heads if night air temperatures are 40-80 degrees lower than daytime ones.
Another feature of this plant is its love for light. If there is insufficient lighting, the plant will stretch out and the head of cabbage will be too loose. In addition, in this case, nitrates accumulate in the leaves.
Lettuce needs a lot of moisture, because its leaf mass is large, and root system quite weak.
This crop prefers loose or medium-heavy soil that is well fertilized. Headed varieties are more demanding of mineral nutrition (especially two weeks before the formation of a head of cabbage). Plants grow well in neutral or slightly acidic soil. To grow on the latter, it requires liming.
Greenhouses and greenhouses must be well ventilated, otherwise excess moisture and heat will lead to the development of gray and white rot, false powdery mildew or marginal burn.
Varieties of varieties
Lettuce varieties are distinguished by early maturity. When planting, you need to take into account that early ripening varieties will be ready for harvesting 30 or 45 days after the appearance of the first shoots. Late varieties of plants guarantee a harvest in 80 - 100 days.
Among the early ripening varieties, the leafy “Moscow Greenhouse” is popular (vegetation period is from 40 to 60 days).
“Critzet” is an early ripening variety, its ripening lasts from 40 to 45 days. Resistant to heat and bolting. The leaves are thin. Bush weight – 250g.
“Ballet” - suitable for open and closed ground. The leaves are green and crisp with scalloped edges. Grows weighing up to 600g.
"Robin" - a variety for open cultivation. Resistant to shooting. The leaves are violet-cherry.
"Emerald" - mid-season. Has excellent taste. Resistant to shooting. Gains weight up to 60g.
The mid-season “Pervomaisky” and “Berlinsky Yellow”, the mid-early “Maysky”, the late-ripening “Krupnokochanny”, “Green Round”, “ Ice Mountain" From varieties of foreign selection they give good harvests leaf “Australian”, cabbage “Attraction”.
It is worth saying that head lettuce is distinguished into varieties with crispy or regular leaves. The first group is represented by the varieties “Ice Queen”, “Great Lakes”, “Vanguard”. They are distinguished by a juicier and denser head of cabbage, which has a sweet taste. In the second case, the popular varieties are “Danko”, “Attraction”, “Berlin Yellow”, “4 Seasons”.
The best varieties of lettuce:
1) Batavia: Leafly, Risotto, Fanly, Funtime, Aficion, Lancelot, Orpheus, Geyser, Boston, Dachny, Yeralash.
2) : Estaret, Lollo Bionda, Eurydice, Revolution.
3) Oakleaf salad: Amorik, Credo, Riviera, Dubachek.
Growing lettuce
The place for planting plants is prepared in the fall. When digging, humus must be added. Close up in autumn or spring mineral fertilizers, add ammonium sulfuric acid, potassium salt, superphosphate.
Lettuce can be grown either as seedlings or by sowing in open ground. The feeding area for this crop must be sufficient. Early ripening varieties are planted according to a 10x10cm pattern, mid-early varieties need 15x15cm, late ripening - 25x25cm. Seeds are planted in the ground to a depth of 1cm to 1.5cm.
By using seedling method you can grow lettuce on open ground at the most early dates. For seedlings, seed boxes filled with turf soil and humus in equal proportions are used.
The seeds in the boxes are distributed in rows, leaving a distance of about 2 cm between them. Seedlings do not require picking, so after germination the young plants are simply thinned out, leaving 2cm gaps between them.
Seedlings are planted in the ground when the plants have 3-4 true leaves. It is better to plant head lettuce on the ground in single rows with a distance of 45 cm between them.
Caring for plants is not particularly difficult: systematic weeding and loosening are necessary. Watering should be moderate, but the soil should not be allowed to dry out.
When rosettes of leaves or heads of cabbage are formed, and in isolated cases stems begin to appear, you need to begin a complete harvest. Headed varieties are harvested selectively, only those most suitable for consumption. It is advisable to harvest in dry weather, but not on the hottest day. You can’t clean it after it rains, because otherwise the lettuce will quickly rot.
In conditions room temperature the picked plant does not last long ( leaf salad- no more than a day, and cabbage can withstand 3-4 days). For more long-term storage recommended to use plastic bags, in which beneficial features Lettuce leaves last up to three to four weeks.
When growing lettuce, amateur vegetable growers need to know that this crop is a good “nitrate accumulator,” which means that they should not get carried away with nitrogen fertilizers when fertilizing.
