Lactuca sativa 'Grand Rapids'

Lettuce 'Grand Rapids' is a cutting lettuce of the Green Oak Leaf type. It is a tender and crunchy salad, with delicately crinkled leaves gathered in a fan shape. The sowing period extends from February to April under cover or from March to August in open ground, for a harvest 6 to 8 weeks later. Resistant to cold, it can be grown in autumn.

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

The Lettuce is a leaf vegetable par excellence, an annual plant belonging to the large Asteraceae family. 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. Cutting lettuces do not form heads and are harvested as needed, as they have the ability to regrow after each harvest.

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

Harvest: It is done with a knife, by taking the leaves from the outer edge of the plant, which will continue to grow and produce new leaves.

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.

Gardener's tip: During hot summer weather, lettuces exposed to full sun tend to wilt. To prevent this, consider protecting them from intense rays by using upside-down crates. In our garden, summer lettuces are not grown in rows, but scattered everywhere: at the base of climbing beans, in the middle of cucumbers and squashes, whose foliage provides beneficial shade.

Gardening tip: A true nightmare for gardeners, slugs and snails love lettuce leaves. When the hunt is on, we are ready to do anything to repel or eliminate them. A solution exists: we recommend using an anti-slug product composed of ferric phosphate known as Ferramol. Unlike metaldehyde-based slug baits, which are harmful to 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.