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The First Veggies You'll Harvest This Season:
Spring Lettuces
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Spring will be here in the blink of an eye! It's time to start planning our earliest spring crops: spring Lettuces. Imagine popping out to the garden with your scissors to cut your salad for dinner, the warming breezes swirling around you and the Tulips blooming by your side as you kneel at your Lettuce beds. Bring your basket of freshly harvested greens indoors and, after they're rinsed, whip up a quick vinaigrette. This will be the best salad you've ever tasted, because you grew it yourself.
We've got a gorgeous selection of Lettuces from which to choose. Grow a variety of types, colors and textures for ever-changing salads week after week. And scroll to the end of this email for some fun spring salad additions beyond Lettuces.
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Romaine Lettuces
Romaine Lettuces grow in elongated heads. Their hearty leaves can have a pleasant bitterness, while the thick center ribs of the leaves are sweeter. They make wonderful salads, and are also wonderful in tacos and sandwiches. Browse our full selection of Romaine Lettuces HERE.
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Rouge D'Hiver
60 days. An open-pollinated, heirloom variety, Rouge d’Hiver originated in France in 1885. It's reliably hardy and perfect for baby greens. (OP.)
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50-70 days. Tightly wrapped green leaves surround a pale yellow heart. Also known as Sucrine, it is an excellent heirloom imported from England. (OP.)
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Outredgeous
50-55 days. Outredgeous has sword-shaped, ruffle-edged, glossy garnet-red leaves that are thick with a sweet, crisp bite. (OP.)
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Little Caesar
65-70 days. This petite variety's green outer leaves and golden yellow and tender-crisp, blanched inner leaves make the perfect Caesar salad for two! (OP.)
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55-60 days. It grows more like a butterhead at first, forming a loose head that begins to grow more upright and elongated as it matures. Delicious! (OP.)
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Jericho
55-65 days. This heat-tolerant variety has a crisp, juicy texture and exceptional sweetness, producing huge heads of strong, sword-shaped leaves.(OP.)
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Batavian Lettuces
Batavian Lettuces grow in loose heads and are thick and crunchy. Slow to bolt, they hold up to heat in the garden better than most other lettuces, so they're a great choice for late spring/early summer sowings. Browse our full selection of Batavian Lettuces HERE.
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Webb's Wonderful
65-70 days. Slow to bolt, this 1890 heirloom is officially an Iceberg, but we consider it a Batavian for its heat tolerance and crunchy leaves. (OP.)
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50-65 days. Merlot is open-headed, with upright, waxy, savoyed leaves with wavy edges. Resistant to downy mildew, it is tolerant of heat and slow to bolt. (OP.)
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60-70 days. Slow to bolt, mild and sweet through the season, Pablo is a perfect ornamental, but also happens to be one of the best tasting Batavians ever. (OP.)
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50-60 days. This French crisp Lettuce has thick, crunchy red leaves with wavy, bronze-tinted edges. Heat-tolerant, it rarely bolts. (OP.)
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50 days. Crisp and delicious, and widely adaptable and exceedingly tolerant of stress, French Arianna is both bolt- and tip burn-resistant. (OP.)
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70-80 days. This Italian variety forms a hearty head with a red tinge. It’s heat-resistant, good for sowing all season, for heads or cut-and-come-again. (OP.)
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Butterhead Lettuces
Butterhead Lettuces grow in small, loose heads and are tasty, tender and mild in the best of ways. The leaves are easily bruised, which is why they usually look sad in the supermarket. Browse our full selection of Butterhead Lettuces HERE.
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45-50 days. This Thomas Jefferson favorite forms compact, tender 7" heads and its buttery and flavorful, pale green leaves hide a yellow-green heart. (OP.)
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50-60 days. An heirloom French variety, it has loosely cupped pale leaves tinged with ruby, rose-pink and bronze around a tender, pale yellow-green heart. (OP.)
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60-70 days. French Divina is slow to bolt, resistant to tip-burn even in very hot weather, and is suitable for planting spring, summer and fall. (OP.)
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Blushed Butter Cos
50-60 days. An attractive cross between Butterhead and Romaine varieties, it has wavy, savoyed, green leaves with a ruby-red glow and a buttery texture. (OP.)
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55-65 days. This award winner grows compact heads of green, buttery leaves surrounding a soft yellow core that does not turn bitter in warm weather. (OP.)
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55-60 days. It has smooth, long, pointed leaves with dark wine-red coloring. A Butterhead-Romaine cross, it has tender leaves with good flavor and texture. (OP.)
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Looseleaf Lettuces
Looseleaf Lettuces grow loosely on individual stalks. They are tender and flavorful, but easily damaged, so growing your own is better than buying them at the supermarket. They come in oodles of colors, shapes, and sizes and are quick and easy to grow. This group includes the popular Oakleaf Lettuces. Browse our full selection of Looseleaf Lettuces HERE, and our Oakleaf Lettuces HERE.
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60 days. We’re happy to encourage revival of this deep red, crinkled Lettuce, as it is delicious and bolt-resistant. Its colors deepen with cold. (OP.)
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45-70 days. Italian Lolla Bionda is frilled and wavy, ideal for cut-and-come-again. It forms a compact mound of deeply curled jade green leaves. (OP.)
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Red Velvet
50-55 days. This gorgeous Lettuce forms loose heads of intense rosy red, crinkled leaves that morph to pale green at their bases. (OP.)
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40-50 days. Tango is extremely curly! It's easy to grow, has a fine taste and firm texture, and frills when young, making it ideal for baby greens. (OP.)
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Lolla Rossa
45-70 days. This hardy Loose-Leaf is comprised of densely ruffled maroon-red leaves. Its decorative mounds are pretty enough for the flower garden. (OP.)
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Black Seeded Simpson
45 days. This 150-year-old heirloom's loosely gathered heads have crimped and curled lime-green leaves perfect for baby leaf or mature harvest. (OP.)
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40-60 days. It has red, deeply lobed tender leaves which form a large, upright rosette. Slow to bolt, it retains a sweet, mild taste, growing in all seasons. (OP.)
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45 days. This gorgeous Dutch heirloom's rosettes of large, pale green, rounded leaves are heavily splashed and speckled with burgundy. (OP.)
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45 days. Bred in the U.S., Midnight Ruffles is dark garnet-burgundy, almost black, with flounced, serrated edges and thick dark midribs and veins. (OP.)
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Sow Lettuces Directly in the Garden
Preparing a fluffy, weed-free seedbed in a nice sunny spot is the best way to ensure a successful crop. In early spring, rake the area smooth, breaking up any clumps and removing stones and weeds. Check each of the seed packets to determine how deep to plant the seeds. A general rule is to cover seeds to a depth that's no more than three times their diameter. Lettuce seeds, for the most part, should only be covered with about 1/8" of soil.
Consistent moisture is critical for good germination. After planting, water the area very gently to avoid disturbing the seeds and let the water soak in to a depth of several inches. To ensure the top inch of soil stays consistently moist, you may need to sprinkle the soil surface once or twice a day, or cover the area with garden fabric to help retain moisture. Once the seedlings break through the soil surface, you can reduce your watering schedule to several times per week (unless rainfall is sufficient). Thin seedlings to the spacing on the seed packet to allow them room to mature.
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Fun Additions to Spring Salads
Grow a few of these salad extras for an added punch of flavor and texture. They can all be direct-sown at the same time you sow your Lettuces.
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Chervil
A hardy annual herb, Chervil has finely cut leaves with a mild, sweet licorice flavor. Revered by French cooks, it is a wonderful salad component.
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Beet Greens
These Beet varieties are grown specifically for their tasty greens, which are lovely in salads and in savory sautés. They're colorful, too!
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Arugula
Arugula launches itself out of the ground quickly, hence its nickname, Rocket. Its tangy taste is perfect in mixed garden salads with softer-flavored greens.
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Sorrel
Sorrel produces vigorous clumps of pale green, arrow-shaped leaves. As the leaves mature, they develop a deliciously tangy, lemony, sour zing.
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Cress
Cress prefers cool weather, otherwise the peppery taste becomes hot. Most Cress will be ready for tossing into a salad three to four weeks from seeding.
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Mâche
Mâche grows in dense, compact clumps with spoon-shaped leaves that are crunchy and nutty yet tender in salads and can be lightly cooked like Spinach.
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Spinach
Surely one of the most popular garden greens to ever be cultivated, Spinach is so versatile. Baby Spinach, especially, is a staple in spring salads.
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Orach
Fresh, colorful, baby Orach offers a spicy punch to salads. It may also be added to soups and stews in much the same way as you would Spinach.
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Mibuna
An easy-to-grow, traditional Japanese green, it grows hunky clumps of long, narrow leaves with a faint, sweet mustard flavor.
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The 20%-Off Spring Greens Direct-Sow Salad Garden
Try this well-rounded selection of early spring salad greens that will nourish you as you work to bring the rest of your garden to life. All of these cool-weather greens can be sown directly into the garden in early spring, with successive sowings through the rest of spring, and then again in fall. This special Collection contains one packet of each of the following varieties at about 10% off regular prices (clockwise from top right):
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Our office hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Questions? You can email us or call us at (860) 567-6086. Our seed specialists are happy to help you in any way possible. We love to talk seeds.
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Request a Kitchen Garden Seeds catalog HERE.
Learn from our Horticultural Tips HERE.
John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds
23 Tulip Drive * PO Box 638 * Bantam, CT 06750
Phone: (860) 567-6086 * Fax: (860) 567-5323
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