Cos lettuce - outer leaves and hearts
 

A week or so back I bought some Cos lettuce plants from a local nursery.

They are growing well and fast in the 'raised bed' bags but so far they
don't look like the picture on the label :-)

At the moment they are more like a leaf lettuce than a heart lettuce - but
it looks as though the heart is beginning to develop.

If this carries on, I think I will have a lettuce heart and a more or less
redundant ring of leaves around the base.

So when can I pick these outer leaves for an early crop without
compromising the forming of the heart?

Cheers

Dave R

Cos lettuce - outer leaves and hearts
 

On 22/06/2013 19:06, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
A week or so back I bought some Cos lettuce plants from a local nursery.

They are growing well and fast in the 'raised bed' bags but so far they
don't look like the picture on the label :-)

At the moment they are more like a leaf lettuce than a heart lettuce - but
it looks as though the heart is beginning to develop.

If this carries on, I think I will have a lettuce heart and a more or less
redundant ring of leaves around the base.

So when can I pick these outer leaves for an early crop without
compromising the forming of the heart?

Cheers

Dave R

Cos lettuce come as 2 types Little Gem which form a good heart and
traditional cos such as Lobjoits which forms a very loose heart, these
were typically tied closed with raffia so that the inner leaves were
blanched.
I wouldn't touch the outer leaves.
It sounds to me as if you would be better of with something like Salad
bowl which is designed to be cut and come again.

Cos lettuce - outer leaves and hearts
 

On 22/06/2013 19:06, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
A week or so back I bought some Cos lettuce plants from a local nursery.

They are growing well and fast in the 'raised bed' bags but so far they
don't look like the picture on the label :-)

At the moment they are more like a leaf lettuce than a heart lettuce - but
it looks as though the heart is beginning to develop.

If this carries on, I think I will have a lettuce heart and a more or less
redundant ring of leaves around the base.

So when can I pick these outer leaves for an early crop without
compromising the forming of the heart?

Cheers

Dave R

You don't say what variety they are.

My guess would be that the outer leaves will probably die. So I'd take the view that I might as well get some goodness out of them before they go yellow. On the other hand, the yellowing happens because the "goodness" is being recycled back into the plant.

On a related topic- bought one of those fancy trays of "living lettuce" which had been reduced on the veg section of the supermarket. When we'd finished it, I dumped it in the greenhouse and kept it watered; it's now coming back for its third cutting.

Since I don't have much space for veg, I don't worry about a constant supply of lettuce (which is relatively cheap) and concentrate instead on other salad leaves, to make up the ingredients for a mixed green salad. Although at the moment there's enough stuff as a by-product - the tiny leaves on last year's chard which is now flowering are good, along with yellow oregano and chives flowers.

Cos lettuce - outer leaves and hearts
 

David Hill wrote in
:

On 22/06/2013 19:06, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
A week or so back I bought some Cos lettuce plants from a local
nursery.

They are growing well and fast in the 'raised bed' bags but so far
they don't look like the picture on the label :-)

At the moment they are more like a leaf lettuce than a heart lettuce
- but it looks as though the heart is beginning to develop.

If this carries on, I think I will have a lettuce heart and a more or
less redundant ring of leaves around the base.

So when can I pick these outer leaves for an early crop without
compromising the forming of the heart?

Cheers

Dave R

Cos lettuce come as 2 types Little Gem which form a good heart and
traditional cos such as Lobjoits which forms a very loose heart, these
were typically tied closed with raffia so that the inner leaves were
blanched.
I wouldn't touch the outer leaves.
It sounds to me as if you would be better of with something like Salad
bowl which is designed to be cut and come again.


Little gem is the prefered one we grow. Tight heart and very quick from
seed to harvest. I drop a seed or two between rows of cabbages every week
as a catch crop. I do this to try and have my prefered salad crop all
together. Tomatoes, cucumber, letuce, spring onions. With new potatoes.

Baz

Cos lettuce - outer leaves and hearts
 

On 23/06/2013 11:07, Baz wrote:
David Hill wrote in
:

On 22/06/2013 19:06, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
A week or so back I bought some Cos lettuce plants from a local
nursery.

They are growing well and fast in the 'raised bed' bags but so far
they don't look like the picture on the label :-)

At the moment they are more like a leaf lettuce than a heart lettuce
- but it looks as though the heart is beginning to develop.

If this carries on, I think I will have a lettuce heart and a more or
less redundant ring of leaves around the base.

So when can I pick these outer leaves for an early crop without
compromising the forming of the heart?

Cheers

Dave R

Cos lettuce come as 2 types Little Gem which form a good heart and
traditional cos such as Lobjoits which forms a very loose heart, these
were typically tied closed with raffia so that the inner leaves were
blanched.
I wouldn't touch the outer leaves.
It sounds to me as if you would be better of with something like Salad
bowl which is designed to be cut and come again.


Little gem is the prefered one we grow. Tight heart and very quick from
seed to harvest. I drop a seed or two between rows of cabbages every week
as a catch crop. I do this to try and have my prefered salad crop all
together. Tomatoes, cucumber, letuce, spring onions. With new potatoes.

Baz

If you are impatient then when you sow or plant your lettuce have them
every 2 or 3 inches, then when the leaves are touching cut out every
other one for use as baby leaves, this now leaves your plants 4 or 6
inches apart, when these are touching again cut out every alternate ones
again as young leaver, your remaining plants are now 6 or 12 inches
apart and can grow to full size.
I'm doing this with my summer cabbage plants every 6 to 8 inches apart
I'll then chop alternate ones to use as greens the remainder will grow
on to make hearted cabbage.
David @ a blustery but so far shower free side of Swansea Bay

Cos lettuce - outer leaves and hearts
 

On Sat, 22 Jun 2013 19:40:21 +0100, David Hill wrote:

On 22/06/2013 19:06, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
A week or so back I bought some Cos lettuce plants from a local
nursery.

They are growing well and fast in the 'raised bed' bags but so far they
don't look like the picture on the label :-)

At the moment they are more like a leaf lettuce than a heart lettuce -
but it looks as though the heart is beginning to develop.

If this carries on, I think I will have a lettuce heart and a more or
less redundant ring of leaves around the base.

So when can I pick these outer leaves for an early crop without
compromising the forming of the heart?

Cheers

Dave R

You don't say what variety they are.

IIRC (and I'm not going out in this weather after dark to look) the label
on the tray just said 'Cos lettuce'.

The picture was of a nice high tight heart but then it could be a generic
picture.

I bought a tray of seedlings to fill in a space in the bed whilst my seeds
germinated (which they haven't).

However the seed was old, so now about to plant some fresh.

Still the lettuce is going berserk so it is doing the job.

Cheers

Dave R

Cos lettuce - outer leaves and hearts
 

kay wrote in
:


David.WE.Roberts;985631 Wrote:
A week or so back I bought some Cos lettuce plants from a local
nursery.

They are growing well and fast in the 'raised bed' bags but so far
they

don't look like the picture on the label :-)

At the moment they are more like a leaf lettuce than a heart lettuce -
but
it looks as though the heart is beginning to develop.

If this carries on, I think I will have a lettuce heart and a more or
less
redundant ring of leaves around the base.

So when can I pick these outer leaves for an early crop without
compromising the forming of the heart?


My guess would be that the outer leaves will probably die. So I'd take
the view that I might as well get some goodness out of them before they
go yellow. On the other hand, the yellowing happens because the
"goodness" is being recycled back into the plant.

On a related topic- bought one of those fancy trays of "living
lettuce"
which had been reduced on the veg section of the supermarket. When we'd
finished it, I dumped it in the greenhouse and kept it watered; it's
now
coming back for its third cutting.

Since I don't have much space for veg, I don't worry about a constant
supply of lettuce (which is relatively cheap) and concentrate instead
on
other salad leaves, to make up the ingredients for a mixed green salad.
Although at the moment there's enough stuff as a by-product - the tiny
leaves on last year's chard which is now flowering are good, along with
yellow oregano and chives flowers.





Kay, I grow vegetables not for cheapness, but for the taste. It often
costs me more to grow them than to buy them. And I always, always feed
them.
It is the pests and diseases IMO that costs money to get rid of.
The cost of packet of seed is a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of
compost, manure, tools, netting, chemicals, and the hours of weeding,
digging and actually sowing then cropping.
After all that, I still love my veg. garden and allotment.

Baz

Cos lettuce - outer leaves and hearts
 

On Sat, 22 Jun 2013 19:40:21 +0100, David Hill wrote:

On 22/06/2013 19:06, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
A week or so back I bought some Cos lettuce plants from a local
nursery.

They are growing well and fast in the 'raised bed' bags but so far they
don't look like the picture on the label :-)

At the moment they are more like a leaf lettuce than a heart lettuce -
but it looks as though the heart is beginning to develop.

If this carries on, I think I will have a lettuce heart and a more or
less redundant ring of leaves around the base.

So when can I pick these outer leaves for an early crop without
compromising the forming of the heart?

Cheers

Dave R

You don't say what variety they are.

Just checked and they are Little Gem Delight.

They certainly seem to be going for it.

Cheers

Dave R

Interesting, because one of the reasons I appreciate my own vegetables (in common with a lot of people) is that they haven't come into contact with pesticides - I wouldn't go to the effort of growing my own veg and then spray them with something.

I don't have an allotment, and most of my garden is shaded. So, since I have only limited growing space, it makes more sense for me, all other things being equal, to grow the expensive or difficult to get hold of part of my diet, and buy the cheaper or easier to source part.

Cos lettuce - outer leaves and hearts
 

On 24/06/2013 16:37, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jun 2013 19:40:21 +0100, David Hill wrote:

On 22/06/2013 19:06, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
A week or so back I bought some Cos lettuce plants from a local
nursery.

They are growing well and fast in the 'raised bed' bags but so far they
don't look like the picture on the label :-)

At the moment they are more like a leaf lettuce than a heart lettuce -
but it looks as though the heart is beginning to develop.

If this carries on, I think I will have a lettuce heart and a more or
less redundant ring of leaves around the base.

So when can I pick these outer leaves for an early crop without
compromising the forming of the heart?

Cheers

Dave R

You don't say what variety they are.

Just checked and they are Little Gem Delight.

They certainly seem to be going for it.

Cheers

Dave R

If they're Little Gem then I wouldn't touch the outer leaves, by taking
some off you might let Botritus into the stem of the plant

Cos lettuce - outer leaves and hearts
 

On 24/06/2013 17:17, kay wrote:
'Baz[_3_ Wrote:
;985761']
Kay, I grow vegetables not for cheapness, but for the taste. It often
costs me more to grow them than to buy them. And I always, always feed
them.
It is the pests and diseases IMO that costs money to get rid of.
The cost of packet of seed is a drop in the ocean compared to the cost
of
compost, manure, tools, netting, chemicals, and the hours of weeding,
digging and actually sowing then cropping.
After all that, I still love my veg. garden and allotment.


Interesting, because one of the reasons I appreciate my own vegetables
(in common with a lot of people) is that they haven't come into contact
with pesticides - I wouldn't go to the effort of growing my own veg and
then spray them with something.

I don't have an allotment, and most of my garden is shaded. So, since I
have only limited growing space, it makes more sense for me, all other
things being equal, to grow the expensive or difficult to get hold of
part of my diet, and buy the cheaper or easier to source part.

Chemicals can also include fertilizers, even things like soap wash.

Cos lettuce - outer leaves and hearts
 

kay wrote in
:


'Baz[_3_ Wrote:
;985761']
Kay, I grow vegetables not for cheapness, but for the taste. It often
costs me more to grow them than to buy them. And I always, always feed
them.
It is the pests and diseases IMO that costs money to get rid of.
The cost of packet of seed is a drop in the ocean compared to the cost
of
compost, manure, tools, netting, chemicals, and the hours of weeding,
digging and actually sowing then cropping.
After all that, I still love my veg. garden and allotment.


Interesting, because one of the reasons I appreciate my own vegetables
(in common with a lot of people) is that they haven't come into contact
with pesticides - I wouldn't go to the effort of growing my own veg and
then spray them with something.

I never mentioned pesticides, but I would use them if I had to. The effort
to grow them and after that, seeing them with a pest or two promps me. Veg.
or no veg. Spray or not to spray. Without my chemicals I would be shopping
in a supermarket for bland, tasteless crappy produce.

I don't have an allotment, and most of my garden is shaded. So, since I
have only limited growing space, it makes more sense for me, all other
things being equal, to grow the expensive or difficult to get hold of
part of my diet, and buy the cheaper or easier to source part.

Yes, expensive plants are much cheaper to grow at the home garden. And
since most of your garden is shaded I don't think you can grow them.

I wouldn't go to the effort of growing my own veg and
then spray them with something.
Why not?

Baz

Yeah, that's why I said "pesticide" and not "chemical".
But I don't use soap wash in the summer because it's completely indiscriminate, it'll take out the ladybird larvae as well as the aphids.

Ah, I was assuming that's what you meant by "chemicals"
Probably because I'm not growing on your scale, I don't get much troubled by pests, except for slugs. So I avoid growing slug food outside.

Quote:

I don't have an allotment, and most of my garden is shaded. So, since I have only limited growing space, it makes more sense for me, all other things being equal, to grow the expensive or difficult to get hold of part of my diet, and buy the cheaper or easier to source part.

I can grow them in the greenhouse, and in pots on the terrace. that's largely what I mean by limited growing space.
And if course I can grow a lot of fruit, and do.
Because I'd prefer not to have complex pesticide residues on/in my crops.