Lettuce Verpia - Lactuca sativa

The Verpia Lettuce is a very large-headed Lettuce that forms voluminous heads composed of beautiful, slightly wrinkled green leaves. It is a cold-resistant variety and therefore well-suited for autumn cultivation, but it can be sown from February to May and again in August-September for a harvest from April to September.

If Lettuce is one of the most popular vegetables (with a consumption of 4.2 kilograms per person per year), it is appreciated for its freshness, crispness, as well as its taste and nutritional qualities. It can be consumed raw in salads but also cooked, for example, to accompany peas.

As the quintessential leafy vegetable, Lettuce is an annual plant that belongs to the large family of Asteraceae. Its Latin name, Lactuca sativa, refers both to the white sap (lactuca) that flows when it is cut and to the fact that it is cultivated (sativa).

It is an essential vegetable in any respectable vegetable garden, and there are so many varieties that it can be cultivated almost all year round.

The cultivation of Lettuce is easy as long as the cultivation calendar for each variety is respected. Its growth is rapid, and it thrives in any soil, provided it is rich and remains moist.

Harvest: It is simply done with a knife when the Lettuces are well-developed.

Storage: Lettuce can be stored for a few days in the refrigerator, but to enjoy its freshness to the fullest, we recommend consuming it immediately after harvesting. Freezing cooked Lettuce is also possible.

Gardener's tip: A true nightmare for gardeners, slugs and snails love lettuce leaves. When the hunt is on, it must be admitted that we are ready to do anything to repel or eliminate them: the ash cord (which will be quickly leached by rain), the homemade trap filled with beer (which hedgehogs get drunk on to the point of ethylic coma), the copper bands that are supposed to electrocute them (which only tickle them a little)...

Instead of wasting your time and, incidentally, your salads, we recommend using an anti-slug product composed of ferric phosphate known as Ferramol. Unlike metaldehyde-based anti-slugs, which are dangerous for wildlife and polluting, Ferramol is natural, non-toxic, and very effective, provided you remember to "treat" your plot a few days before sowing.