Lamb's Lettuce: Sowing, Cultivation and Harvest

Description and botany

The cultivated lamb’s lettuce is a vegetable plant derived from the native Valerianella olitoria, considered a weed. It grew mainly on roadsides and in cereal fields, sparse meadows and vineyards. Likely originating from southern Europe, North Africa and western Asia, it was appreciated in antiquity. But for a long time it was considered a vulgar herb, only eaten by peasants.

Botanical plate

It wasn’t until the Renaissance that Valerianella olitaria became a cultivated plant in French gardens, particularly along the Loire. It must be said that this small plant, which became a vegetable and was named mâche from the 17th century onwards, loves the mildness of the oceanic climate. But it is still not appreciated at its true worth! With the Second Empire and the influence of some great chefs, restaurateurs and discerning gourmets, lamb’s lettuce gained its noble status. Through selective breeding, it became a salad with a milder, more refined flavour than wild lamb’s lettuce.

Today, there is a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) for Loire Valley Lamb’s Lettuce and Nantes lamb’s lettuce benefits from a PGI (Protected Geographical Indication). Market gardening of lamb’s lettuce is in fact concentrated in Loire-Atlantique.

Etymologically speaking, Valerianella olitaria means vegetable of good health, valerianella coming from “valeo” meaning “to be in good health” and olitaria from “olus” meaning “vegetable”. An etymology that tends to highlight the nutritional properties of lamb’s lettuce.

Cultivated lamb’s lettuce (Valerianella locusta) is a perennial or biennial vegetable plant of the Caprifoliaceae family (formerly Valerianaceae), characterised by a spreading habit. The foliage is a beautiful bright green, fleshy and quite veined. It forms a rosette of small leaves 5 to 8 cm long that form clumps. The oblong leaves are spatulate and obtuse in shape and grow on pubescent, channelled stems.

A discreet flowering appears in April or May. The lamb’s lettuce produces small ash-blue to white flowers with tubular corollas, with 5 lobes. If you let these flowers go to seed, the lamb’s lettuce produces achenes in June containing flat seeds that will disperse near the mother plant. To collect these seeds, pull up the young plants when they are yellow and hang them on a cloth. The seeds will fall on their own.

In spring, lamb’s lettuce offers a discreet flowering of silvery blue to almost white

Lamb’s lettuce benefits from rapid growth and rarely exceeds 15 cm in height. It is a salad for autumn or winter harvest, depending on the variety. There are commonly two types of vegetable lamb’s lettuce: large-seeded lamb’s lettuce, an early variety, less resistant to cold, which makes an excellent autumn salad, and small-seeded lamb’s lettuce, the most common. This small-seeded lamb’s lettuce is hardier and ideal for winter cultivation. The gardener therefore starts sowing with the large-seeded lamb’s lettuce, to be sown from mid-July and harvested until November. The small-seeded lamb’s lettuce can be sown later. It is certainly less early but can be harvested throughout the winter, until March.

The different varieties of lamb's lettuce

Depending on the variety, lamb’s lettuce has distinct foliage. The leaves of large-seeded lamb’s lettuce are generally broader than those of small-seeded varieties, slightly more rounded, thicker and smaller. The colour also varies from light green to dark green. The leaves of large-seeded lamb’s lettuce are light green with a yellowish tinge.

Depending on the variety, lamb’s lettuce foliage is more or less flat, fleshy and green

For autumn harvests, choose large-seeded lamb’s lettuce with its long, tasty leaves, or Dutch large-seeded lamb’s lettuce with its grey-green foliage. Among small-seeded varieties, there are many traditional types, each more flavoursome than the last: Verte de Cambrai, Coquille de Louviers, Verte de Louviers, Verte d’Étampes, Ronde maraîchère… Numerous improvements have enabled professionals to develop hardier, more productive varieties such as Agathe, Favor and Gala lamb’s lettuce… Some of these varieties can even be grown all year round.

Our favourite lamb’s lettuce varieties

Year-round varieties

Corn salad Coquille de Louviers

This is an early and very cold-hardy lamb's lettuce, making it suitable for sowing throughout France. Its leaves are spoon-shaped. Sow from August to October.

• Height at maturity 15 cm

See the product sheet

Lambs Lettuce Vit - Vilmorin Seeds

An early and highly productive lamb's lettuce, resistant to cold and disease

• Height at maturity 15 cm

See the product sheet

Lambs Lettuce Verte dEtampes - Ferme de Sainte Marthe Seeds

Its thick, clustered leaves make this lamb's lettuce suitable for cooking. Sow from August to October for autumn and winter harvests

• Height at maturity 15 cm

See the product sheet

Lambs Lettuce Agathe - Vilmorin Seeds

This is an ideal lamb's lettuce for winter harvests as it is very hardy. Sow from July to October

• Height at maturity 15 cm

See the product sheet

Lambs Lettuce Palace - Vilmorin Seeds

Sow from January to September for year-round harvests of beautiful spoon-shaped leaves

• Height at maturity 15 cm

See the product sheet

Lambs Lettuce Favor - Corn Salad

Its tender leaves can be harvested all year round. This variety is particularly heat-resistant

• Height at maturity 15 cm

See the product sheet

 

Sowing lamb's lettuce

Which soil and exposure for corn salad?

The location chosen for your corn salad is crucial for successful sowing. Corn salad thrives in fresh, moisture-retentive soils, possibly slightly clayey but well-drained. It can also grow in lighter soils provided they remain fresh and humus-bearing. However, corn salad requires firm, compacted soil. There’s no need to dig before sowing the seeds. A light pass with a grelinette or cultivator is sufficient. Careful weeding is essential though: corn salad seeds take a long time to germinate and may suffer from competition with adventives. Fertiliser application isn’t obligatory.

Corn salad will appreciate being sown after beans as it benefits from the nitrogen. However, avoid sowing it after potatoes as the soil becomes too loose.

Regarding exposure, corn salad prefers partial shade as excessive heat doesn’t suit it. If sown in full sun, provide some shading – for example with upturned crates, light mulching, fresh fern leaves or jute cloth. Being an excellent companion plant, corn salad can also be sown in the shade of cabbages, leeks, onions… That said, some sunlight is still necessary.

When to sow corn salad?

The ideal period for sowing corn salad spans August, September and October. The harvest time depends on the sowing date. Large-seeded varieties, sown from mid-July through August, can be enjoyed two months later. Smaller-seeded varieties, which are less early, are sown more in September and October and harvested three to five months later.

For continuous corn salad harvests, stagger sowings every 3 weeks, alternating between large-seeded and small-seeded varieties.

How to sow corn salad?

Corn salad can be sown either in rows or broadcast. Broadcast sowing makes maintenance more difficult, so sowing in furrows is preferable.

• Run a cultivator over the thoroughly weeded plot
• Dig furrows 2-3cm deep, spaced 20cm apart
• Sow the corn salad seeds very sparsely
• Cover with a thin layer of compost
• Firm down well with the back of a rake
• Water with a fine spray.

You can make sowing easier by choosing ready-to-sow corn salad seed tapes.

These days you can also find young corn salad plants ready for transplanting directly into the ground or even into pots or planters.

Maintenance and harvest of lamb's lettuce

8 to 15 days after sowing (depending on outdoor temperatures!), the seeds germinate. It is very important to keep the soil moist during this period. So watering should be regular, always with a watering can rose. If autumn is dry, watering should continue. Otherwise, it’s unnecessary.

If your seedlings are too crowded and dense, thin them out when the seedlings have 3 to 4 leaves. Keep only one young plant every 10 cm or so.

It is recommended to hoe and weed the corn salad regularly. Similarly, if winter temperatures are low, a winter fleece is advisable at night. From February onwards, to speed up the harvest, you can also use a plastic tunnel.

The harvest takes place as needed, two to four months after sowing. To harvest, cut the rosettes just above the collar. Then, a second harvest of small rosettes is possible. Corn salad leaves can be kept for 2 or 3 days in the fridge’s vegetable drawer.

The enemies that corn salad fears

The main enemies of lamb’s lettuce are fungal diseases, especially if the soil is heavy and poorly drained, and an autumn that is both rainy and warm. To prevent these diseases, it’s important to aerate the plantings by sowing lightly. Above all, strict crop rotation must be observed.

The main diseases that can affect lamb’s lettuce are powdery mildew, downy mildew, rust, and bacteriosis. Horsetail manure is effective as a preventive measure against powdery mildew, while Bordeaux mixture works against downy mildew and bacteriosis.

Powdery mildew affects lamb’s lettuce when the weather is humid and warm

The other number one enemy of lamb’s lettuce is slugs. There are countless natural ways to deter them.

→ Also read: diseases and pests affecting lettuces

What to pair with lamb's lettuce in the vegetable garden?

Lamb’s lettuce thrives alongside leeks and onions. It also finds its place between the ranks of cabbages or carrots which provide it with shade.

Lamb’s lettuce enjoys the company of cabbages, which offer it beneficial shade

Use of lamb's lettuce

The Benefits of Eating Lamb’s Lettuce

As lamb’s lettuce is low in calories, it can be eaten without worrying about the scales. But its main nutritional qualities lie in its omega-3 and beta-carotene content, the provitamin that transforms into vitamin A. It is also an antioxidant. Beyond these virtues, lamb’s lettuce is rich in vitamins C, B6 and B9 (folic acid) and E, as well as minerals and trace elements (iron, potassium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, calcium, selenium). And of course, it contains fibre.

How to Serve Lamb’s Lettuce?

The most common way to eat lamb’s lettuce is raw, in a salad, accompanied by walnuts, feta, parmesan shavings, fresh goat’s cheese or roquefort, and pieces of pear or apple. It can also be paired with cooked or raw beetroot or mimosa eggs. As the leaves of lamb’s lettuce are rather delicate, it is recommended to add the dressing just before serving. Use mild oils such as grape pip or walnut oil. Balsamic vinegar also enhances the delicate flavour of lamb’s lettuce.

Lamb’s lettuce is mainly served in salads

Lamb’s lettuce can also be cooked, steamed for 5 minutes, or boiled in a saucepan of water for 6 to 7 minutes. It is served with fish such as salmon. It can also be prepared as a velvety soup, pesto, or on a pizza…