Grow lollo salad and you will get a great harvest

Everyone who tries to live a healthy life knows that salad is no longer just a lettuce. There are many types of salads and their cultivation is very similar. Lollo salad has two main varieties; Lollo Rosso (red), which is pink to red, and Lollo Bionda (pale green). Both are commonly known as the coral lettuce and both of them are not only tasty, but also very “good-looking”. That is why we use their fancy frayed leaf tips to decorate festive salad, cheese and salami bowls.

Choose a suitable place for sowing

First, buy seeds of the particular variety you want. This salad grows from April to the end of September so, if you want a sufficient and gradual supply of coral lettuce, sow every three weeks. If you have a greenhouse, you can grow this lettuce all year round. Make sure to select a sunny location and use a well-loosen soil worked down to a depth of at least 30 cm.

Photo: Pixabay

How to sow properly?

Plant the seeds to a depth of about one centimetre and cover them with 0.5 cm of soil. Leave a space of about 20 cm between individual rows. Water after sowing. You should see the first sprouts in 7 to 10 days , but it depends a lot on the ambient temperature. After two to three weeks, you need to thin the seedlings properly.

Watering is important

From planting to the actual harvest, you must make sure that the soil around your lettuce is not dry . Water regularly, regardless whether you grow lettuce in an outdoor veggie patch or in a greenhouse or hotbed. Lettuce may be easily grown in a pot, which is a good news for those who do not have a garden. In any case make sure that you provide enough sunlight, so if you are going to use your balcony or terrace, make sure it gets enough sunlight.

Harvesting

Regularly pluck weeds out and harvest in time – while you lettuce is quite brittle. When you think that your salad is large enough, you can start harvesting – for example, by cutting the head with a knife or pulling it out of the ground with a small rake together with roots. Lettuce is best, as majority of all vegetables, when fresh. So eat it as soon as possible.