Lambs lettuce

I have purchased some 'Lambs Lettuce' seed to keep my seed sowing addiction ticking over come autumn... however I have a few questions about it:

-Can you sow it now for a spring harvest? Im thinking in my greenhouse in individual 3" pots considering it doesnt grow that big.

-How would you describe its flavour?

- Is it a worthwhile crop to grow in a garden, taking into consideration the size of its harvest?

Many thanks in advance!

 

You can sow now for an earlier crop, i'm very partial to a bit of lambs lettuce. The point of the autumn sowing is that it overwinters very well, providing fresh greens when there is little else about.

Its only a small plant, so it will not be the best use of the ground to sow it at this time of year, you could be producing a much bigger salad crop from the bigger lettuces, lollo rosso, iceburg etc.

Why not grow a few to see if you like them, they are Valerian family as opposed to compositae, so have a different flavour.

You've reminded me of something i've neglected to sow as a winter crop recently, Land Cress.

I used to sow Lambs Lettuce, Land Cress & Mustard in the autumn to provide winter greens, with a bit of protection they used to do really well over winter.

Remind me again in august, memory is not what it used to be & now i've mastered the art of brewing my own Rum(legally!) i'm stuffed.

 

I'm a bit confused. I thought lambs lettuce was a weed that often appears in lawns? Or am I thinking of something entirely different?

 

Thanks ziggy... I had a feeling you would answer this one. Its very unlikely that I wont enjoy the flavour... I eat anything thats vegetable (or fruit), unlike my kids :th_scifD36:

I have a bit of land cress going in the greenhouse to throw in with the other salad leaves im growing... still tiny yet though.

Ahhhh the smooth taste of rum... now your talking! Never looked into making it myself though.

You have reminded me of that bottle sat in the cabinet... mmmmmmmmm
[hr]

I dont know much about it, but from what I can gather, it is a weed. Its also called corn salad.

 

Give it a chance, by all means, Lukenotts.
I've tried it a few times in situations that should have been fine.
Can't tell you what it tastes like - never saw a leaf when all else did fine.
Aren't some things really weird

 

If its the plant I'm thinking of (I've looked at pics and I think it is), it seems to thrive on sandy soil in full sun. I've seen it most frequently in seaside gardens on on the dunes near us, but it could be a case of mistaken identity.

 

Weed is just a plant in the wrong place, grass is a weed in the veg plot, dandelions are a weed in the lawn, but I have a dandelion patch in me veg plot for the roots, best coffee ever.

There are many weeds that can be eaten, some have been taken into cultivation, some haven't.

Take Silverweed (Potentilla Anserina) for instance. Creeping underground rhysomes, will invade your garden, but the nutty tubers (albeit small) on the roots are as good as potatoes. How many of us have even tasted them ?

Chickweed (Stellaria media) is another. Next time you are grubbing it up to put on the compost heap, try frying it up in butter with a bit of salt & freshly ground pepper, your mouth will love you for it

 

You can guarantee that all the other weeds you didnt deliberately sow, would have grown without a problem!

 

Sorry, just trying to remove a bad link here, bear with me:DOH:

 

Is there a thread on your vegetable adventures ziggy? Im always looking to try something different and what you talk of above, and foraging have always sounded appealing to me, despite the fact I dont know much about it.

From my short stay on GC, I can see its a passion of yours.

 

Ziggy, you're quite right in your definition of a weed, I agree entirely. I used the term in this context to clarify that we were talking about the same plant, in that lambs lettuce is commonly held to be a weed.

Some of our most common and popular garden herbs are sometimes considered weeds, and one plant that almost all consider to be a weed makes the nicest vegge soup.

 

Sorry guys, I tried to link a picture of lambs lettuce there and it nearly crashed the site :DOH:

Never expected that of vegetables, only porn :DOH:

I haven't got a thread running on forraging but i'm thinking of running some courses on it later in the year.

If anyone is interested then give me a shout. I've been living off what I can find or grow for as long as I can remember, long before Huge Fernley thingingstall left London.

Don't get me wrong, I respect and follow what Hugh has been doing. It's just that I turn on the telly & see him doing my lifestyle :DOH:

When I was bringing up my first daughter on my own in North Wales, I had fallen through every social security net & was trying to survive on £26 a week. During the brief summer when her mum came back, I was able to claim jobseekers allowance (a luxury £36 a week) I took my daughter to the interview where I was asked what I had been living off for the past year. I showed them the paperwork & was told that was not enough to live off. Daughter must have got the jist of the conversation as she piped up "We've been eating weeds" (she was only 2 years old)

The man went bright red, signed the forms & wouldn't even look at us.

 

Wow Ziggy... huge admiration to you sir.

Regarding the course, If I lived closer and didnt have 3 kids and be self employed and a missus and a dog and.............. I would really be interested. [hr]

Is that the pic that made my computer crash!

 

Ziggy, I believe there's money to be made in such courses. I'd be happy to pay to go on such a course we weren't at opposite ends of the country, so how about this for an idea. Instead of charging per person, you could charge per group, and then you could charge enough to make it worthwhile to travel to other areas for the course.

My dad went on a willow weaving course run by a bloke that used that strategy.

 

Will give it a go