On 30 Nov, 19:58, (Jim Jackson) wrote:
Bob Hobden wrote:
"Kate Morgan" wrote ...
A garden in the village has what look like several very large lettuce
growing in their flower border`s, we have had a couple of hard frosts and I
would have thought that if it was lettuce they would have gone long ago,
what else can the plants be.

A few years ago I let some Red Lettuce flower and they obviously seeded
around our allotment because in early spring, frosts and all, the ground
became covered in tiny red lettuce plants. A lot tougher than I thought!

Red salad bowl can be quite hardy. I overwinter them, with a little cloche
protection to encourage some winter growth. A few years back I got some
seeds of Winter St. Merthe - green leaves blotched with dark green and
"red". These have proved very hardy, and if allowed to flower they self
seed in our garden and survive over winter. Self seeded plants seem to
fair better over winter. Others have meantioned Winter Density. I find
most Cos type lettuce, green or red, to be pretty hardy.



I remember around 40 or so years ago we used to grow Arctic king, this
was a hardy lettuce you sowed out side mid sept, and it would over
winter as young plants, then grow on in the spring, the problem with
it was that it often had a red tint when it was ready for cutting and
in those days if it wasn't green then people didn't want to know it.
Hoe times change.
David Hill
Abacus Nurtseries