Growing lettuce in winter

Winter lettuce types

• Chicory
• Lamb's lettuce
• Endive
• Sugar loaf lettuce
• Purslane/Postelein
• Radicchio
• Orchid lettuce
• Winter lettuce
• Picking lettuce (winter cultivation possible)

Winter lettuce varieties

There are some frost-hardy winter lettuce varieties that are very popular and highly recommended. One popular variety, for example, is 'Baquieu' winter lettuce. It has strong leaves with a slightly bitter, strong taste. Alternatively, you can also choose 'Wintermarie'. An Austrian, traditional variety is 'Neusiedler Gelber Winter'. 'Trémont' has beautiful red spots of color and can be sown both in autumn and early spring.

Sowing winter lettuce

Most winter lettuces need to be sown in summer so that they have most of their growth behind them by fall. When fully grown, the plants are perfectly hardy. As it is often very dry in the summer months, you should make sure to water regularly to prevent emergence problems. Winter lettuce is sown outdoors from July to September. The heads can be harvested throughout the winter. As winter lettuce is a light germinator, the seeds should only be pressed on.

Lamb's lettuce can be harvested in autumn (until October). For this, it is sown from July to August. For a later harvest from November to January, you must sow in September.

Endive can be harvested until November, as it tolerates light frosts. The winter lettuce seeds should be sown at the end of July to the beginning of August. Spread the young plants out to approx. 30 x 30 cm/11.8 x 11.8 in after emergence.

You can sow postelein/winter purslane from September to March. As light germinators, the seeds should only be pressed down. The small rosettes can be somewhat denser and do not need to be singled out.

Sugar loaf is sown from June to August. Separate the winter lettuce later to 20 x 30 cm/7.9 x 11.8 in. Sugar loaf is ready to harvest from October, but can easily be left in the field all winter and only harvested when needed.

With radicchio, make sure you get a late variety for winter cultivation. For example, 'Roter Veroneser' is suitable here. Sow at the beginning of July in rows of 12 x 30 cm/4.7 x 11.8 in.

Orchid lettuce is a particularly beautiful, sweet and mild winter lettuce variety that is a variation of radicchio. The white leaves with red dots look particularly beautiful in a bare winter bed. Orchid lettuce is sown for an autumn harvest from mid-June. The winter lettuce variety can then be harvested from the end of September.

If you want to grow pickling lettuce as a winter salad, it is best sown from August to October. Although you can also pre-grow winter lettuce indoors, it is easiest to sow it directly into the bed. The individual plants should be quite close together as they are better protected from frost and cold. Sow the winter lettuce seeds over a wide area to create a dense carpet of lettuce later on. As lettuce is a light germinator, the seeds should only be pressed down and not buried.

Winter lettuce in a raised bed

You can also grow various winter lettuces in raised beds. In addition to lettuce, lamb's lettuce also grows well in raised beds. However, the soil freezes more quickly here as the raised beds are more exposed to the cold from the sides. It can help to wrap the raised beds with insulating fleece or fir branches. Individual heads of lettuce or rosettes can also be covered with fleece in severe sub-zero temperatures. Another problem could arise in summer when sowing, as raised beds dry out more quickly than normal beds. Therefore, always make sure to water regularly after sowing.

Harvesting and storing winter lettuce

Small, rosette-forming winter lettuce varieties such as Postelein or lamb's lettuce can be harvested gradually without cutting off the entire rosette. This keeps fresh lettuce in the garden for longer. Only the outer leaves are harvested so that the rosettes can continue to grow. Of course, the entire rosette can also be harvested, but then nothing will grow back. Picking lettuce can be harvested in a similar way. To do this, only cut off individual leaves of the winter lettuce approx. 4 cm/1.6 in above the ground. This means that the individual plants remain intact and can be harvested again and again. Lettuces such as radicchio, orchid lettuce, sugar loaf or endive are harvested in one piece. You can either take them out of the ground together with the roots or cut off the lettuce heads approx. 2 cm/0.8 in above the ground. With roots, the heads often stay fresh and storable for longer. To do this, you can either wrap endive and sugar loaf lettuce in newspaper and place them in boxes or embed them in boxes filled with damp sand. The boxes should be kept in a cool and dark (cellar) room. All heads of lettuce will keep for several days in the fridge.