The vegetables that might be found in supermarkets and in the market are quite okay, especially in case we are talking about organic products. Nonetheless the food seems to have a better taste in case it has been grown in our own garden.
On one hand we know how the plants have been treated, and on the other hand we know how much work it took to make the plants grow and to keep them healthy.
There are some salad veggies that are quite easy to grow, and one of them is leaf lettuce. This is considered to be the basis of salads. The outer leaves might be harvested as soon as they are large enough and all you have to do is to cut them with the help of a scissor. The inner leaves will continue to grow and they could be harvested at a later time.
The advantage of the leaf lettuce is that there are numerous different colors available, and so they might also be used as a decorative element. The colors range from red to solid green, bronze, burgundy and there are also some species that come with speckled streaked leaves.
The romaine lettuce represents a different kind of species, and it is considered to be the highest quality lettuce. This plant has elongated leaves that form a loose, upright head. It is also known as cos lettuce and it is the main ingredient of Caesar salads. There are different kinds of varieties available, including green, red and speckled.
The butterhead lettuce is really easy to recognize because of its specific shape and the darkly colored outer leaves. The inner leaves have a creamy yellow shade and they are extremely mild in flavor. The loose head of the plant looks just like a rosette.
The majority of the lettuces that you will find in markets and supermarkets are head lettuces. Although they are this common, still they are rarely found in home gardens. This is because it takes more time for them to grow and the plant doesn’t really tolerate the summer heat.
Nobody ever said that the different kinds of lettuces need to be grown separately. For example you might grow a mixture of wildfire lettuce, including ‘Outrdedgeous’, ‘Garrison’, ‘Blackjack’, ‘Royal Oak’, ‘Tango’, ‘Saladbowl’ and also ‘Parris island’. Not only will you have fresh ingredients for your salads, but your garden will have a beautiful look.
The mesculun mix is another kind of mixture that you might want to have in your own garden. This comes with aragula, tangy red mustard and other kinds of Asian greens. Some of the seed mixtures have been especially created to be used in certain seasons.
Aragula has already been mentioned, and you should know about it that it has a spicy and nutty taste and it is also known as roquette or rocket salad. The advantage of this plant is that it matures quite fast. Baby greens will be formed in only 20 days, and you will have mature heads after 40 days.
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