Batavia Lettuce Rossia - Lactuca sativa

The Batavia Rossia Lettuce is a variety that stands out for the beautiful red colour of its leaves. It is a lettuce that forms a beautiful head of crinkled and crisp leaves. It can be sown from February to August for a harvest 8 to 10 weeks later.

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

As the ultimate leaf 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 grown almost all year round.

Growing Lettuce is easy as long as you follow the cultivation calendar for each variety. It grows quickly and thrives in any soil, as long as it is rich and remains moist.

Harvest: It is simply done with a knife when it reaches maturity.

Storage: Lettuce can be stored for a few days in the refrigerator, but to enjoy its freshness to the fullest, we recommend consuming it right after harvesting.

Gardener's tip: A real 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 until they reach an alcoholic coma), the copper strips supposed to electrocute them (which 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 slug baits based on metaldehyde, which are dangerous for wildlife and polluting, Ferramol is natural, non-toxic, and very effective as long as you remember to "treat" your plot a few days before sowing.