Top Up Your Salad Bowl Sowings for Late Summer Harvests

Posted on 15. Jun, 2011 by Tracey in How To Grow Veg

My lettuce has been crazy this year, growing very fast and swamping my plot however its now on the way out bolting due to the heat so its the ideal time to top up my sowings to ensure I have more lettuce, radish and oriental leaves to see my salad bowl through to late summer.

What Type of Salad Can I Sow Now?

As its June, I’m looking for salad vegetables that have a quick growing season so I can harvest before the weather turns colder in September. Quick Growing Salad vegetables include: loose leaf lettuce, radishes, spinach and oriental leaves.

Loose Leaf Lettuce

Loose Leaf Lettuce (or cut and come again lettuce) are fast growers and the leaves can be harvested whilst the rest of the plant carries on growing. This type of lettuce has become popular in recent years with lots of bright green, red and dark red colours to give your salad a boost and its also a great type of lettuce to grow in containers or even on your windowsill.

Lettuce

Top 5 Loose Leaf Lettuce Varieties

1. Black Seeded Simpson – This is the variety at the centre of my lettuce frenzy and is does have a great taste too.
2. Lettuce Bowl – this is a classic variety comes as a mixed green and red seed pack
3. Lollo Rosso – Another classic variety of very frilly lettuce and dark red in colour
4. Lettuce Delicato – An AGM variety deep red in colour with oak leaf shape. Sow until August.
5. Salad Leaves Speedy Mix – contains a mixture of lettuce, rocket spicy mustard leaf and oriential leaves for sowing until August harvesting in just over one month.

Radish

Radishes come in mild to hot to very hot varieties and are also the colours of the rainbow too to help brighten up your salad. Radishes can be sown now and will be ready in 4 to 6 weeks time. Sow April to June.

Scarlet Globe Radish

My Top 3 Favourite Radishes

1. Pink Beauty (Mild)
   My absolute favourite radish for its smooth, spherical, pink colour and mild flavour.
2. French Breakfast (Hot)
   A cylindrical white and red radish which has a hint of hotness and great crunch.
3. Scarlet Globe (Hot) A red round globe radish with a hot fiery centre.

Spinach

Spinach can be sown from April to September and then Winter varieties from August to November. Spinach does have a habit of bolting in hot weather but there are varieties that solve this problem, one of which is mentioned below.

Reddy Spinach

Spinach is also ideal for growing in containers and baby leaves can be cut when ready at intervals to prolong the harvest period.

Top 3 Speedy Spinach Varieties

1. Tetona F1 – Harvest baby leaves in just 6 to 12 weeks.
2. Emilia F1 – Very fast growing and can be sown until December.
3. Medania – Perfect for those long hot dry summers as it withstands bolting. It can also be sown into Autumn.

Oriental Leaves

Oriental leaves add a bit of spice, mustard or peppery flavour as well as different shapes and textures to your salad bowl. They grow in the same conditions as lettuce and are easy to grow in containers.

Oriental Leaves include:

Pak Choi

• Tatsoi – similar to Lambs Lettuce, very small oval leaves which grows in a rosette shape with the plants growing very low to the soil.
• Mizuna – the serrated spindly leaves often found in supermarket salad mixes and have a mustard flavour.
• Mustard Leaves – These come in all different colours and heats of mustard flavour. Some leaves must be cooked to reduce the intense heat. Click here for suggested varieties.
• Komatsuna – this is oriental spinach, grows quickly and has round leaves. They can be grown in autumn as they are cold tolerant.

Other Vegetables that take a little longer to grow but still worth a look are:

• Salad Endive
• Pak Choi
• Other Veg to Sow in June and July
• Winter Radish

Did you know you could eat Radish and Kohl Rabi leaves? No neither did I until I read this helpful Cook’s Thesaurus: Cooking Greens which helps make the most of all your vegetables.

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