Lettuce for Everyone

If you've been reading this blog, you know that I planted lettuce as part of my winter vegetable garden. The other evening a friend asked, "Ooh! What kind?!?" I started to explain and, having barely started explaining one kind, I decided that a picture was worth a thousand words.

I was trying to explain that I planted from two different packets. One packet was an heirloom "bibb" type lettuce called "Merveille De Quatre Saisons", that was all burgundy around the edges. It was like the red-leaf lettuce you buy at the supermarket, but it made a small head in the middle like butter lettuce, but it was more savoyed (crinkly, puckered) than either. And on and on.

The other packet contained a mix of "loose leaf" lettuce called "Heirloom Cutting Mix" that contained several varieties. First there's a lime-green variety called "Sucrine." Apparently, Sucrine is becoming popular in the higher-end, foofi restaurants.

The mix also contains a very narrow-leafed Romain-type lettuce called "Blush Butter Cos."

But the most interesting variety in the mix is called (really) "Speckled Trout Back" lettuce. It turns out to be an Austrian heirloom and it's very pretty!

As you might guess, I'm eating plenty of salads and they are quite colorful... even without adding tomatoes or other veggies for color.